Star Wars: The Ancient Force
by ranicholl
Summary: "Yoda was not a master of the Light Side—or the Dark." Luke hears this from a Sith prisoner and frees her to investigate what she means. She killed her Sith master, but was arrested for killing a boy while sanely smiling. Luke fights unresolved darkness within as he's tormented with questions: How did the Force originate? Is her third side of the Force depraved like the DarkSide?
1. CHAPTER 1 -- Inverse

Chapter 1

 **INVERSE**

* * *

TEAL MIST AND SMOKE swim in the invisible currents of a sea-green night sky. Embers float within these currents while sparks shoot through them. These sparks burst from a red ship floating down... trailed by smoke. But it wasn't shot down by blaster fire. Like this one, blaster fire bounces off other red ships, but they fall when hit by electromagnetic pulse-bombs shot by Rebellion ships.

The Inverse Sea—the murky teal sky of this moon-sized planet—is filled with dozens of malfunctioning Imperial ships floating to the charcoal soil. Most of the ship's crews await their capture from Rebellion ground troops, but some of the crew rush to their cargo with blasters. When Rebellion troops open the doors to _these_ cargo bays, shots fire from the center of high-pitched screams. Screams of shabby uniformed children. The oldest—preteens—shoot with the Imperial crew, only in confusion and fear of the Rebel enemies; anything to make these strangers stop shooting at their crew's living crying shields: their younger friends held by their hair.

 **|•|** **‹•› |•|**

Among the pitch-black clay of this planet, two specks of flesh seem to float above it in the distance, bobbing towards the red sparks. The specks appear to avoid the chaos of the main shipyard and speed up to reach a private ship away from the Rebellion fleet.

A Rebel scout spots the specks a few meters away, but at the split-second of recognizing them as faces, he's slammed unconscious into a tree by an invisible force. The two faces continue their float through the darkness, unaffected. Red sparks flashing nearby reveal black clothing covering every inch of the face's bodies; one decorative, one simple. Both were dressed for active roles in skirmishes, but more-so the simple one.

Though making good speed, the two harbor no fear or alarm, despite the sounds of death and destruction just beyond the hill. The older one however solemnly contains his anger over leaving his establishment to the Rebel scum.

The simple one speaks with a well-carried female voice, "You're not using your blond pet this time? Or have you still not solved the mysteries of your toy?" adding a hint of good-natured sarcasm.

The decorative one's aged voice replies, "Self-appointed-Darth: Cicatrice (sik-uh-tris), is no longer my ally— _self-appointed_ ally, the _pious narcissist_. He continues to make attempts at stealing my possessions—including _her_ —to fuel his efforts to take my place as Emperor. Yesterday marked a day of desperate measures, otherwise I would not be employing you to kill him. Before he converts you too, as I'm sure you could be..."

This was the first she had heard of this assignment, but her lack of reaction was as if she already knew. Her silence served as his favorite acknowledgment: servile and aware.

He adds, "And you're no more my toy than I am yours."

Her whole face smiles. She uses a tone as if speaking to a retirement-home resident, "Is that a joke? You old man. Since, _when_ , do, you, _joke_."

His face winces as if burned by the gleam of her smile, " _Blazen_."

Her face quickly returns to the emotionless of before, "Sorry lord. I do it just to piss you off. I figure it helps strengthen your Dark powers."

"We both know you do it for more reasons than that."

 **|•|** **‹•› |•|**

"LANDING SECURE! MOVE IT OUT!" commands a Rebellion captain into his comlink, focusing on the massive cargo bay doors of a Rebellion ship. He lowers his blaster to command surrounding troops, flinging his whole arm with utmost urgency.

With a clunk and hiss, the bay doors open to reveal three men each rolling out a single-manned mini-cannon on wheels fit for rough terrain. Behind them, four armored bodyguards surround Lieutenant Leia Organa storming out to join the battalion. The captain waves his men to hand her and her men red shields they took from local guards. Dozens of them. The stern captain nearly beams with delight. Suddenly, with these shields, thousands of his men will be saved, as will millions of credits in repairs and medics. He couldn't be happier with their new treasures, yet still feels the urgency of danger at hand.

Leia says, "These are the P.E.R.C Shields? They're huge," weary of taking one without it pulling her down with its presumed weight.

"Oh yes, but they're very lightweight," tossing one to her.

She catches, "Ah, _oh_. Well—"

"It's the P and the R of the coating's acronym: the plasma and red-mercury. And we just pronounce it Perk."

Noticing it looks made of tinted glass, she says, "Oh wow, and—"

"Indeed. Nearly transparent too. The two combined allow for such a thin—nearly invisible—coating, yet it still reflects blaster fire—of all types. Everything red here like the ships has the same Perk coating. Even the red Imperial guards. But if that Darth Sacrifus uses that electricity you spoke of, then you'll be had."

After they discuss the more urgent matters of the campaign, she looks around to the horizon, scanning for hidden clearings where a ship might escape. In one such direction, she closes her eyes and calms...

The noises around fade to nothing...

The distant spaces between trees and lampposts become a thin chill on her skin from her Force essence...

The presence of three distant troops becomes a nearly real coldness, flowing into her...

She feels a sudden hot singe thrust through the air, pushing troops into a ravine...

And beyond them, she feels the essence of a searing body walking alongside a cool one. Bingo. She had found her second objective. A Sith Lord.

Leia commands seven men to follow her: the men with cannons and her bodyguards. But only these seven men. She had tried to kill the lord before, so she came prepared with artillery that she hoped his power couldn't stop. Blasters and swarms of men were long-proven as pointless and useless deaths, but their honorable deaths had at least proven his power. She would have bombed the tiny planet from the stars, but he always kept himself among his particular troops that were considered unkillable by both Rebellion laws and stray morals alike: innocent children.

Following a rugged path, Leia's small group trudges closer to an industrial tunnel entrance. Leia points to two white specks poking behind a corner and tells her bodyguards to get ready while the cannons and drivers stay back.

"Come out with your hands up! You're outnumbered," she commands.

They come out, one behind the other. The first one has his hands up, the second—he shoots—hits Leia's red shield—four shots hit the first stormtrooper—Leia's hand locks onto the second's mind—"Drop it!" she orders. It only partially works, so she reluctantly closes her eyes and repeats "Drop it" with more emotional control over the Force. He drops his blaster and the closest bodyguard kicks his shin to knock him on his knees. "Open this door," she commands his mind again. He starts to move, but stops, so, "Open this door," she orders again, and he fully obeys.

"Good work," a bodyguard says, "You're getting better."

Sighing, "Thanks, let's go."

And they enter the tunnel.

.

A ship in a small forest clearing opens its door and a red Imperial guard comes out.

"Get inside, we're waiting," the Sith Lord tells the guard. Turning to the woman, "I sense the Rebel Princess coming."

The woman turns with her Lord to wait.

.

Leia exits the tunnel behind her guards with the cannons behind her. They see a lit platform far ahead with two silhouettes backlit between darkened trees and the lightened ship.

After a quick moment with her eyes closed, "That's him! Number 1, aim and fire! NOW!"

"Can't get a clear shot, hitting ship instead!"

A bright green streak trails an iron ball flying into the end of the ship, just past the silhouettes. The Lord's hood flies off and his beaded necklace hula-hoops around his neck from the draft while he shows a sobering surprise, mildly so. The ship's end explodes and two Imperial guards race out. The woman only straitens, hand ready on her hip, awaiting anything.

"Keep moving!" Leia commands.

They race to the waiting figures and the Imperials open fire, able to command precision between the trees from their stable position. Leia's guards however shoot aimlessly while trotting with the cannons, hiding behind their shields.

A yellow beam flashes, blocking a shot inches from hitting an Imperial. Whoosh, again, another blocked. The woman deflects shots with a yellow-bladed lightsaber, holding it by a perpendicular handle like a nightstick.

"Get closer!" the Lord commands. "Kill them before the cannons get in range. Blazen, stay."

The Imperials rush up to shoot closer, but the red shields of Leia's team absorbs the shots. A cannon shoots through the trees, hitting the last bunch, making way for a second shot that hits just before the Imperials, blasting them into unconsciousness.

The Lord puts his hood back on to cover his eyes, and focuses on Leia's troops.

"Careful, Defense One! He has range!" Leia warns her bodyguards. "Single file!"

Her guards form a staggered line, allowing all of them to continue shooting while hopefully the Lord can only take out the first, therefore the troops would know where to stop outside his range. But with the woman whipping away all shots, would he just wait until they were all in range to take them all out at once?

"We're nearly clear Lieutenant!"

"Defense One, switch positions with Artillery One, now!"

The bodyguards slow to allow the cannons to lead.

The Lord focuses further.

The trees become thinner.

The yellow blade whips shots until—

— _click zwoom clackity clackity clack clack clack_ —

—the perpendicular handle clicked to rotate and stop at her back, black necklace beads clacking on the steel platform, rolling towards the troops, along with the Lord's head, body hitting the floor.

The woman holds her position allowing the Rebels to clearly see what just happened.

Leia yells "STOP!" nearly shrieking it, nearly horror struck, unable to comprehend what just happened.

"Rebel Princess Leia!" the distant woman shouts, "My name is Terigo of the Light of Audinic. I have been secretly working against the Sith religion and wish to join your cause." She had sheathed her lightsaber and placed it gently at her feet, then raises her arms over her head.

Mouth gaping and panting, Leia stands bewildered. Her blaster droops but she stays ready to shoot. "J—" panting out thoughts, "Stay, there! Don't move! Kick your lightsaber as far away as possible!" Then Leia speaks into her comlink, "Captain Sel, Objective 2 has been accomplished, as far as I can tell, but I need back up. Send two squads. Fast."

.

After a long discussion with her Captain over what to do, Leia sends a man of one squad to kick the lightsaber further away, so it couldn't be activated with the Force or possibly explode from a hidden bomb. Leia approaches the woman with a squad of men surrounding them both, keeping their distance, blasters aimed. They confirm the dismembered head is truly the Sith Lord. Leia notices the woman stands strong but that her face is soft, unlike any Dark Side user. The woman continues to keep her arms over her head and wears a subtle, pleased smile as Leia speaks to her from a distance. Throughout the following discussion, the woman's voice remains a motherly pitch, soft and comforting.

Leia says, "What was your name again?"

"Terigo..."

"Ah..."

"Of the Light of Audinic."

Leia becomes partially distracted by thoughts. "...I've never heard of such a place—or religion, whatever it is..."

"We are... were a small but powerful planet and had cut off ties to the galaxy about a century ago. But our Visionaries foresaw our planet's destruction, from a ray of some kind. The ray was from the Empire and Sith religion as I've found out" —and her expression and tone drop dead to say— "when they succeeded."

Something in Leia's chest wrenched. Her heart. Knowing what losing her home feels like. The sadness and empathy eased some of her concern. "So..." again distracted by internal focus, "How long have you been a Sith Apprentice?"

"I wasn't exactly an apprentice yet. I was taken by Sith Lord Darth Sacrifus to be groomed as one," nodding to the prune-like head on the ground. "I went along so I could prevent my home from being destroyed by taking out the threat, and destroying the Sith."

Leia pauses to focus even deeper, not in herself, but in the woman. Leia was trying to pay more attention to her instincts—the Force—rather than the woman's body language, but both were revealing that the woman was telling the truth.

Aside from the woman's eyes looking sane and full of thoughts, there was this unusual warmth in her. It was flowing through her body like Alderaan's summer breeze, something Leia had forgotten until now. Before the Lord's death, the woman's presence had seemed cool and solid. _But was that just distance giving an inaccurate reading? But Darth Sacrifus' presence had always felt the same..._ Both of the woman's sensations were drastically different than the searing that Leia felt from the Sith Lord. Leia stood without direction. She didn't know what this difference was. She only had Luke to compare to, who was anywhere between cool and hot at times. And Luke had said she felt between cool and pleasantly warm at times. _Maybe every Force user has their own signature, or range, or what?_ But this warm, peaceful feeling... _Could it be a mind trick? But I know what it feels like when Luke showed me where in my mind._ But the feeling was so very inviting...

And Leia felt some other energy flow in and out of her own body, her own mind especially. It wasn't Leia's Force extension, _No, it must be this woman. Of course it would be._ And the woman's smile had grown gradually, as if what she felt in Leia comforted her. With the smile and warmth, it felt mildly like when Luke hugged her. The love of siblings.

"Well..." Leia forces out a sigh. "You can come with us, until we can investigate you further. Squad 12, keep her surrounded and 100 feet ahead of me. Squad 7, keep around me. Let's head back—you can put your arms down now."

The woman does, but was looking to her lightsaber, or where it would be, hidden in the shadows. Leia follows her gaze and contemplates whether to give it back now or—

The woman speaks, "May I ask you to hold onto it for a while? I can't right now."

"Your lig... Yes. Why."

"My arms are numb," her genuinely friendly smile grew from finding it a little humorous, yet half the smile was forced due to ache. "They've been up for some time."

"...Sorry." Then turning to one of her men, "Go grab it, it's over there. It's a metal rod-looking thing. And carry it far ahead of us."

The woman raises her voice so everyone can hear, "I'm going to shake my arms to return blood to them, so don't be alarmed by the quick movements."

Leia watches anyhow, more in admiration than concern, but certainly both.

.

Back at the main shipyard, Leia asks the guards to keep the woman surrounded with their new cargo: orphan trainees of Darth Sacrifus. This way, the woman could be fed when the orphans are.

A few hundred feet away, Leia speaks with her Captain, unable to take her eyes off the black-clothed but otherwise pleasant looking woman.

"I still don't know," Leia says, such worry in her sigh. "I can only imagine she could still be a spy or assassin from another Sith Lord, or that maybe she intends to kill leaders among us too to appease for apprenticeship of other Lords. Luke says the different religious sects never get along and hold grudges towards each other."

"I have a Plasma Carriage I can put her in for the trip back," he says, dismissively confident.

The woman sits at eye level to some of the more patient and scared of the hungry children. She scans all of them while food is passed out. As the rest swarm over to the distributor, she ducks out of view to greet a crying one behind her, a pre-teen trembling with a blaster he was hiding in his uniform.

Further in their discussion, Leia says, "I have access to Luke's channel too. It'll be quicker if I—"

—Zzzt thud—

Everyone turns their head to the sound, near the woman and child.

The woman turns to Leia with the same tender smile of those whose hearts were warmed by giving food to the children. Her eyes were unalarmed. Sane. Focused. With detailed thoughts behind them.

It took a moment for the men to point their blasters at her. Now Leia and the Captain see why.

The woman stands over the child on the floor, his chest steaming, and she drops his blaster from her hand.

As Leia's gaze stiffens and horror grows throughout every inch of her, the woman's expression also becomes grave, as if feeling Leia's horror, realizing she must have done something terribly wrong in their eyes...

Leia flings her hand out to the woman's head and commands, _"Drop to your knees and don_ _'t move!"_

Leia stops her own tension to calm herself to try again, knowing her Force command couldn't possibly have worked with so much anger and fear—couldn't possibly on a Jedi— _"Drop to_ —"

But the woman obeys... calmly, and solemnly putting her hands up once more...


	2. CHAPTER 2 -- Interrogations

Chapter 2

 **I** **NTERROGATIONS**

* * *

DISTANT HONKING IS NEARLY DROWNED by the bustling of the Rebel shipyard and the corridors that lie beyond. While soldiers unload and disperse, groups of orphans are escorted by guards. The older ones: handcuffed, heading to another ship. The younger ones: get loaded into transport vehicles.

The honking races quickly through the corridors, the source's vehicle carrying two men: the driver and a man in black.

—HONK HONK—"LOOKOUT HERE WE COME!" the driver yells as he jerks around the corner.

The jostle breaks Luke's anxious over-concentration—fortunately—and he manages to stop himself from fiddling with his hands. He closes his eyes to meditate, to calm himself so he can—hopefully—think clearly about the danger at hand.

 _Another Jedi. Undercover. Killed a Sith Lord_ and _a kid. A strange feeling. Female. A woman—no, I can't let_ —

—HONK HONK—"MOVE PLEASE! LUKE SKYWALKER HERE! PLEASE MOVE!"

"Please don't use my name," Luke politely groans the reprimand with a mix of guilt and unease. "It makes me sound like royalty."

"But you are, Sir. You are to us," says the driver, nervously looking back and forth between Luke and their path.

"Just don't please," not surprised, but otherwise bothered by such admiration.

"But it worked _loads better_ than just honking and yelling."

.

Luke rushes through a door that is guarded by a dozen Rebel soldiers with unreasonably large blasters. He enters a small industrial cargo bay with more of the same guards surrounding his sister. She's too focused on speaking to eye Luke, but her large sigh and loosening joints helps to confirm that she felt his presence. He stands behind her guards where he could see who she was talking to.

A woman dressed in black sits handcuffed in a cage with semitransparent walls of a glowing pinkish-yellow substance. She sits on the floor looking at Leia peacefully, with a faint smile of optimistic invincibility.

"No, there are _always_ options, with time, and you have no right to _now_ ," Leia berates her.

"I _had_ no choice," she says softly, "it goes higher than laws or what I wanted, and again I didn't know your law until I felt your shock," the woman replies. Her tone maintains a stable range between monotone and politely informing, with only a hint of frustration. "He assigned me to his orphan training facilities because of such a thing. He didn't want to destroy potential soldiers any more than _I_ did."

The guards open just slightly to let Luke in Leia's circle. He stands next to her as they each put an arm around the other in unison. From here on, they never really stop making physical contact in some way, whether supportive or casual, whether standing arm to arm, or a hand casually on the back or shoulder. A natural closeness of being so bonded.

Leia sighs. She finds it hard to take her eyes from their prisoner, but equally as hard to take her eyes off her brother, so she alternates between the two. "Luke, I haven't been able to interrogate her for very long, I'm so glad you made it here quickly, I don't have much time before I'm required at a very important reconnaissance meeting, I haven't been able to get much of a real feeling of her because I need to keep her in this Plasma Carriage—it's made out of the same stuff that barrier was that we couldn't use our power through to push buttons—"

"Right, she might use her powers on us too," giving a look into Leia's eyes to remind her he could read her. Over the years, it was becoming easier to read Leia's specific thoughts due to them both training in the Force.

Leia was more than overwhelmed to be able to read his in this moment however, but the reassurance that he could read hers eased her a little further. "I found a bounty posting for her—from us—so I sent 3PO and R2 to get—"

"That could take forever they walk so slow. How much time do you have?"

"I put—"

"Oh," mind-reading it.

"—them on a truck. Yes, thank you." She reaffirms her grasp of his arm, grateful that she wouldn't have to waste as much time explaining everything, grateful even more-so for the one true companion she had in this world. "I wish I could just hand over jurisdiction to you so you could continue when I leave, and I don't even think holding her much longer is safe: the cage must open to feed her."

"I haven't heard of Audinic either by the way. Do you have the bounty entry to pull up?"

"I think I can here, but we won't be able to see the hologram here until R2 gets back," Leia says, motioning her guards to follow her to a computer and starts searching through entries. "The name she gave me was Terra Go of the Light of Audinic... But her name with the Sith is—was—Blazen. She was being groomed as an apprentice... The name 'Blazen' doesn't show up but 'Terra' did." Finding the entry, "Ok, here: Terra of the True Light."

The woman speaks up, almost jocular, "Only half of that is right—or two-thirds, whatever—It's funny, Terra's apparently a common name, so you people tend to call me it like you're nicknaming a pet or something. But it's Terigo please. T-e-r-i-g-o. Type that in. I'm curious if anything pops up." Leia and too many others had been mistaken by the 'reh'/'ruh' of the ri syllable sounding too similar to the 'raw' of Terra.

"Anyways," Leia and Luke turn from her, "Terra is from—"

She laughs: "Oh come on!" making a playful cross-armed pout for just a moment.

Luke felt Leia was equally as stunned by the woman's mood. _She faces death or imprisonment without concern? Without fear?_

"And—"

But the door opens and R2 and 3PO wobble in as fast they can.

"Master _Luke!"_ 3PO says. "It is so _good_ to see you back."

Luke only gives him a nod and follows R2 to the computer, hoping 3PO will get the hint he's busy with thoughts. Once R2 is hooked in, Leia starts sifting through files on the screen.

"Okay, so here's the details of the bounty posting: _He was on the_ —"

"He?" Luke asks.

"Well," Leia stretches belief, "maybe she was undercover, like with the Sith."

"Well, then just look for a holo."

Leia's frustration pushes her to continue reading, wanting to find _something_ that matches this sane-looking psychopath, " _He/she was on the Jedi High Council but banned for following his depraved religion of the True Light and its sadistic trainings."_

"R2, just pull up the holo," Luke says.

And projected out of R2, there it shines. A large holo of him talking. Just him; the others are cropped off-screen for the bounty entry, and the audio is turned off.

The image is indeed a man. No older than 50, with a youthful face that even a Sith Lord would call beautiful. His teeth show frequently through his continuous smiles, and his giggle moves his whole body, genuinely; not one perfunctory white-lie in any ounce of his gestures. This man... if he had hugged you as a stranger, you would feel glad he did. Luke and Leia even seem to become softer watching him.

R2 warbles.

3PO says, "R2 says his home is a planet called Audinic, which was destroyed a few years ago. R2 also says the entry says his age is 722,—"

"What?!" Leia says.

"—and the entry is 110 years old, but this most recent holo was recorded 5 years ago. R2, are you _sure_? That's not _possible_. I'm terribly sorry Master Luke, but R2 has become quite fond of this system's network grid in the past week and hasn't been himself lately."

R2 warbles a retort.

"What do large processors have to do with anything," 3PO retorts. "She's just a computer."

Luke was still pondering the holo, but was not as surprised by the age as Leia. Transfixed by the holo, he tells her, "Yoda was 900. I had always thought it was just his race that allowed him to live that long, but this man is _human_. Maybe it has more to do with the Force..."

"May I see?" the woman asks, nearly solemn if not for a desperation in her breath, almost choking her. "Does it say where he was last seen?"

Luke and Leia turn to her and see she is on her knees perched as high as she can, trying to peek at the holo. Catching their eyes, she returns herself to a sitting pose and smiles as if she said _I'm being good, so can I?_

Leia says, "R2, go show her."

R2 moves to her and projects it just outside her cage wall. She squints past the plasma and her eyes wonder many things.

"I think..." she says, "...this is my greatest grandfather, I was named after him. I don't know for sure, I only met him once when I was little, but he _would_ be about 700—The Light rejuvenates you while the Dark ages you—And my greatest grandfather's name _is_ Terra and he _was_ on the Jedi High Council, but I don't know what the True Light is."

Luke says, "How old are you?"

"27." Two years older than Luke and Leia.

"Anyways," Leia says, "What's so sadistic about your religion that we would put a bounty on a Jedi Master for a million credits," and mumbling under her breath: "(which is more than we can spare)."

"I have no idea," but she wonders about their reaction when she killed the child. Her tone, as it has been, maintains a stable range between monotone and politely informing, "But I also don't understand your people and what you would consider sadistic. I don't exactly understand why I'm here," motioning to the cage.

"Because you killed a child and you see nothing wrong with it!" Leia roars. "You commanded his gun away, so you could have commanded him into custody."

The woman's informing tone doesn't change in the least from before, "Saying the same thing doesn't help me understand. I felt that was too much of a risk, not knowing your laws, and considering you wouldn't believe me—don't believe me. Sacrifus used me here because my powers can see into people with that much depth, but that trust took time. This boy was on the edge of acting now. He could have found any means of attack and wanted to shoot you into dust right then and there. I figured at best he would be executed anyways, but anything less than that was too risky. I apologize that I was unaware of what more I could have done, but I can't apologize for saving you. Your death would've killed thousands in the long run, millions. And he would have never joined the Rebellion, not without being a spy for the Empire, not with that much fear and hatred."

Leia rolled her eyes, having wanted to spit on every word, but Luke had been thinking about them. He was wondering about the woman's lack of fear and her determined, stable eyes—whether they were from emotional control, _or maybe she was so powerful there was nothing to fear, or was she just insane despite her sane eyes?_ Two of those three options were deadly. He was no longer stunned by her composure, and instead: disturbed.

"What did you feel?" Luke asks.

"She said she felt incurable Darkness in him, the kind that the Sith covet and use to create their sickest soldiers, and that the kid wanted to kill us all. But she did NOT see the future of that young boy's life. We can't know the future."

Luke knew better but kept his mouth shut.

"Really?" the woman says, a hint of irritation back again, with a sliver of condescendence, but mostly hidden by her sunny glow, "It's all random? Then why do we make any decisions at all?"

"Well," says Leia, searching for words, but refusing to be proven wrong, "some things are more likely than others."

"Exactly. Hence my decision."

"You didn't even give him a _chance!_ People _change_. Our, father, _changed_ after a life of Darkness." She nearly spat on the word 'father,' despising the word for what sickness she witnessed in him, destroying her family and home in seconds. But Luke had always pushed that Vader had changed back to Anakin, so she hoped it was true to at least win this argument.

"Leia," Luke starts to speak quietly to her, but when he puts his hand on her back, she senses the rest in his mind, "Calm your anger, I can _(feel it begin to cloud your judgment)._ "

She turns to him and almost growls, but she turns away from them both to close her eyes and do a short meditation. She tries to relax the Force's essence-heat caused by anger, but urgent thoughts distract her. "I don't have time for this—"

"I never met Vader, but all Dark users seem to suffer from something," the woman says. "I don't want anyone else to suffer from the Dark," and she mumbles almost to just herself: "(which is why I don't want to kill anyone to escape)."

"Oh but you'll kill a child?!" Leia yells.

"Hey. I saved a child," she says, calm, "and the thousands he would have caused to die. (Why are you people are so simple minded about these things?)" she mostly asks herself. "How is it that any of you can become Jedi with such impulsive thinking." Amidst her neutral expression, Luke sees her smile now seems forced, as if fighting off something within herself. "Would you rather have had someone kill your father when he was a smiling child, or say 'no let's just wait to see if he kills ten billion people first, and then decide, we'll just apologize to the widows and orphans, they'll understand, we saved one child to put ten billion at risk, and oops, we guessed wrong, our impulsive emotions trump rational thought.' "

Leia was beside herself, so Luke felt he should take over to let her calm, if possible. "If he had died young, he wouldn't have created _us,_ " putting both hands on Leia's shoulders, "So I can at least be grateful for that."

" _What?!_..."

Luke and Leia start.

The woman's voice was sharp, incredulous, disgusted, and her brow furrowing more and more. "You're _grateful?..._ You really think you're worth _ten billion lives?!_ You _self-important child!_ _Selfish sick BASTARD!"_ —BAM zzpt ZAP ZAP—In one second, her fist had slammed the floor, sparks flew from it, a bolt of electricity burst from her body, hitting the cage, and a second bolt hit the wall's cables. Now lights in the grid around her flicker and shut off. The darkness hides her completely.

"TAKE AIM! MOVE BACK MOVE BACK!" Leia commands, pulling out her blaster, and Luke pulls out his lightsaber, ready to unsheathe it, cautious, moving back with the group.

Emergency lights turn on, casting yellow light behind her, shadowing her face. She was sitting as she was. Luke hears her breathing deeply through her nose and possibly whispering. _Whispering?_ He stretches his Force's essence out to get a better sense of her intentions.

With a voice drained of all life except a faint whim, she says, "Ten billion lives. You make me sick, kid. I would gladly give my life for a thousand, but I feel I can save more." The last bit sounded like it cheered her up.

A short moment of tense silence goes by. Softly, politely, she says, "Your handcuffs broke from the shock. Sorry," sounding genuinely so. She moves her arm to toss it—

"STOP! Don't move! Stay where you are and don't do anything!" Leia commands, with her hand aimed at the woman's mind.

"Leia," Luke murmurs, "that won't work on her, sh—" but he watches the woman obey.

"It's worked so far, _see_." Leia says, "How else do you think I got her into the _cage_. She wouldn't have gone _willingly_." At no point do either of them take their eyes off of her.

"Maybe she did, or—" Luke says as Leia senses the rest in his mind.

"Faking? Hell," Leia says, "then she's just faking to penetrate our forces and take us out from the inside," strengthening her grasp of her blaster, yet her body creaking with the rest of the men about what move to make.

"(Ow)," they barely hear the woman say, her leg jerking off the hot floor-lamp it was positioned over. The floor-lamp now shines up on her.

"I SAID,—"

"I'm sorry, the light was getting too hot," she says with a gentle voice and a friendly smile. The light reveals a casual face and polite eyes that peer into the two siblings.

With the Plasma Cage broken, Luke had been peering into her. It seems to get easier as each moment goes by. By now, strangely easy. Welcoming. And suddenly her eyes are on his, having moved from gazing into Leia, most likely trying to judge her intentions just like he was trying on her.

Leia is oblivious to their eye contact, focusing on decisions. She realizes she should calm her emotions to allow her Force's essence and mind to strengthen. So she lets Luke handle sensing the woman. She tries the best she can to clear her mind, to relax it. Though she doesn't dare close her eyes, she doesn't notice the woman's eyes gradually change.

Both Luke's and the woman's eyes slowly widen more and more as the Force's essence flow through each other, through their minds. They both feel a dense concentration of the Force in the other; strong skill. As their stretched essences wander around in each other, with safety in mind, Luke first keeps his mind closed off to this summer breeze of her essence trying to get in. But he soon lowers his guard... the desire to be understood was just too great. Similarly, her essence inside her feels like warm water, but she seems to pull his essence in, as if suffocated by the lack of it. Though he tries, he can't sense specific thoughts, only general emotions... He feels a warmth he only felt when laughing with Leia. He nearly smiles before he catches himself and—she pulls her essence away from him and pushes most of his out. Her mouth closes, her face droops, her eyes relax with disappointment, sorrow. Her warmth suddenly becomes tepid, then cool. Luke thinks, _Had she seen something in me—is that why? Had she just interrogated me?_

"Luke Skywalker," she says with disappointment, but disappointment for what, only she knew.

Luke says proudly, " _Jedi,_ Luke Skywalker."

Her eyes narrow to ask, "Jedi... Self-appointed? Or by default because they're all dead?"

"What?" Luke says, his eyes sharpening.

"I mean the Force is... _strong_ in you, (very strong,) but you don't seem... I mean I hope I'm wrong, but..." giving a hopeful smile and tossing her hands out with shrugging shoulders as if to say 'but come on, look at yourself.'

Luke's eyes narrow further but one brow catches a little higher with _'huh?'_ "I was trained by Jedi Master Yoda and have since completed the training."

Leia was taking the moment to calm herself, but it wasn't exactly working, so she extends her Force essence to read the woman while Luke questions.

"You knew Yoda?" the woman's eyes widen for a moment, then narrow in attention.

"Yes," he says proudly poised. "You did as well?"

"No. He was the only one on the Jedi Council that was older than my greatest grandfather, or so I heard," she says softly tranquil.

"Did Yoda train him in the Light Side? Or who trained you? A Sith Lord?—"

"What?" her eyes flickered narrow and head tilted.

"What."

"I don't understand," she says. "Yoda wasn't a master of the Light—or the Dark. He was a Mid."

"What?" his whole body gently froze, curiosity flooding his eyes. "What's a Mid, is that his race...? I..."

"A Mid is an emotionless Jedi with powers between the Light and Dark. The Middle. My father trained me in the Force. He explained how the Mids were too afraid or lonely or too lazy or too emotionally young to master emotional growth, so they hid in the Mid with no emotions rather than risk being overpowered by the Dark if they failed with the Light. My great fathers have little respect for Yoda for his arrogance towards our greatest grandfather."

A sense of wonder had overcome Luke from her religion's ideas, especially the word 'growth,' but so many of her later words had weighed him down enough that his wonder became cloaked with concern and offense. "So, you were trained on the Light Side?"

Leia, calmer yet the stress of time pushing her to lead again, "You mean the True Light Side."

"No, the Light. If you people keep calling yourself the Light Side, maybe that's why the bounty-entry creator wrote the True Light Side, or maybe Terra _had_ to call it that to differentiate. But you people are not of the Light. I mean I haven't felt too many Mids before, but _you_ especially—" eyeing Luke "—your presence feels below what I would think the Mid would feel like. You're mixed with the Dark, with all that arrogance and guilt and pain swirling around."

All of Luke's wonder _dies_. His body stiffens. He wrenches the rest of his Force's essence from her and his gaze flickers between glaring at her and glowering at himself, and vice versa, glowering at her and glaring at himself; with all internal pains past and present. It renders him as too brooding, too disconnected from the situation.

Leia feels his swirls of chill & sparks and it pains her to know that her brother struggles. Though because she knows him, she can't help but to agree with the woman on this. Leia's gaze slides to her and flutters with woe and worry. It sobers her a great deal. "How is it that you weren't corrupted by the Dark Side, even a little," trying not to look at Luke, hoping he didn't realize she meant him, "and even managed to keep things from the Sith?"

A smile of an end-of-stressful-times softly blends into her lips, "It was a continuous, tedious effort of causing him to fluctuate his emotions so his Force essence would be unstable and therefore he wouldn't be able to predict the future or see my hidden thoughts."

Though Luke's attention gets pulled back to the woman, Leia speaks for both of their feelings, "I don't understand... How—"

The cargo bay door opens and they all turn to a man accompanied by a guard. "Leia, a message for you."

"I _know_ ," she spat, trying to aim her frustration at herself. "I'm trying to finish as fast as I can—"

The woman seems to understand and speaks quickly, "Dark Jedi seem to only sense very strong _Dark_ emotions, but not many others. Darth Sacrifus had observed from the Emperor long ago when he was Senator Palpatine that if he made his decisions  & negotiations when void of emotions like him—in the Mid—it allowed for logical complex thoughts, capable of strategy rather than simplistic impulsive _costly_ violence—like the Emperor in recent years. So Sacrifus only used hatred to conjure strength with his Dark powers. Apparently like Palpatine's Mid state, my neutral or empathic feelings were hidden from Sacrifus because they only dwell in the Mid or Light respectively, so whenever I sensed he was less Dark, I would do something to piss him off, making him fully Dark so he couldn't get close to sensing what I was hiding."

Especially with the speedy words, Luke and Leia both didn't quite understand. As Leia waved the messenger away, Luke says, "So... The Dark Side can only sense Dark emotions and the Light Side can only sense _?Light?_ emotions?"

"No."

Leia sighs, exasperated. Her dire concern for time meant Luke's digression from important details was more than irritating. Low and strict, she says, "So are you saying you're _not_ influenced by the Dark Side, but only the _Light_ Side?" Her disgust trails with hatred again, "So the _Light Side_ allowed you to kill a child while you were smiling?"

"The orphan's parents were killed in front of him, by Rebels. His parents were esteemed officers of the Empire. And from there he experienced far worse things. I had learned orphans are put into slavery or recruited—or kidnapped—by the both the Empire and Rebellion."

"No," Leia says, insulted. "They're well taken care off with us."

"How could you know that? Whatever you've seen, not all of them are. I was employed by the Empire to mostly accompany raids that stole orphans from your Rebellion. Most targets were not orphanages. Most were from mining facilities and factories," giving a head-tilted smile of a mother scorning her favorite child. She adds, "(They were easy strategic targets: poorly guarded and would hinder your productions in the long run. Sacrifus ordered me to use my senses to find those that wouldn't bend, and kill them...)" She seemed to forget why she was mentioning this part, trailing off as if her emotions drained out. But she didn't seem to regret giving the information as if she wanted them to make their judgment based on as much information as possible. She had showed no fear of how it might get her killed.

"Then she's definitely on the Dark Side, especially with that lightning," Leia says turning to Luke, ready to be done despite so many concerns.

"I killed the next Emperor—killer of thousands and to-be killer of millions—and you're upset over four children? Verses _millions_?—"

"Four?!"

"—You people are all depraved," she finishes. Luke noticed a laugh had tried to accompany her smile, but that her eyes hindered it as she looked away, not from any sort of fear, no, her eyes were unwavering. Her will was clearly resilient. They all could tell she had looked away due to being disappointed by whom she was surrounded by. But only Luke saw that she also seemed to see so much loneliness in the cargo bay's empty space now...

The cargo bay doors open again with another messenger and guard. Leia groans a sigh, "I _know_ —I'll be there soon—wait outside. Luke, I—"

"Teach me your laws and I won't disobey them. I serve to save the galaxy," she says with a serious smile. This wasn't a plea; she meant to console Leia's fears.

They look to her, then back at each other. Leia tries to speak again, but... there was no need. Luke could feel her struggles too, squeezing her shoulder.

He steps out from the guards' protective circle, their hands gliding along the other's arm, naturally trying to stay connected, until their fingertips reluctantly depart from the other's hand.

"Luke..." Leia warns, but she understands what he's doing.

The guards re-raise their monstrous blasters from their drooped positions of holding them up for so long.

Luke steps closer to the woman and closer still, focusing to feel her presence once again. He takes a risk and closes his eyes, trying hard to aim for specific thoughts. He feels... a fire opal of thoughts and emotions: they were like sparkling drops of sunlight with a warm breeze swirling around, like the soupy substance in a galaxy's spiral. Blending with this warm soup was cool fog seeping in from underneath. The fog was protecting the warmth from several deeply lain hot sparks. And these sparks flickered out at times from cold rocks scattered below.

Honing-in on this broad sense of her mind, he could only feel specific pieces of thoughts and memories; just bits of phrases and words. _Hymn and—the—that love—remember—in a—warm water—Hol Baumann—it isn't—brother's waiting—minor cause—trees are—my new path—space is cold—the last Jedi—no one—so cold alone..._

Leia was the only other person he could touch minds with so closely. _It must be because she's Force-sensitive too._ He couldn't help himself from being swayed... "Release her to me. I'll—"

 _"What?!"_ Leia's teeth clamped down on any more. _No, he has that youthful determination that always gets him hurt—He heard that didn't he._

Luke continues out-loud until he senses she's reading it, "...I'll keep a tight guard on her. I'll get a better feel for her and what she's capable of. ( _I don't know what she is, but she's not aligned with the Dark Side. Whatever she says she is—this other Light Side—it could be useful, it has to be, it's something I've never seen before, never heard of, I have to learn about her powers."_

"Luke..." so much of her fear—cold essence—pulls Luke into her. He embraces her as they absorb each other's feelings for a bit. They stand with his mouth at her ear as if whispering instead of mind reading.

 _I will try to contact Yoda, like you suggested, on both of these issues._

 _Luke... Finally, please! Anything to get you to speak to Yoda. You've been staying on isolated missions for longer and longer, and when you come back, the Darkness—the coldness—and those 'rocks' in you—_

 _I know,_ solemn now.

 _—And I sense your judgment about this woman being swayed by_...

 _I know._ So very solemn, weighed down with so much. _I'm sorry. Just trust me. Trust me to both of these issues._

The many fiery angers & frustrations billowing back and forth in her actually become stabilized against the chill of her fears. It sucks back the tear that was collecting at her eye, and she sighs with all her might. "I don't have another Plasma Carriage but obviously it wouldn't last. Keep her here, highly guarded, or with you away from others, until I can send final jurisdiction—She did _kill_ —I'll be back later." She kisses his cheek with a quick embrace and rushes out saying, "Guards! Luke's in-command until you're otherwise informed."

The door hisses shut behind her.

Luke moves out of the circle again. The guards raise their scary blasters once more with a sigh. He stands looking down at the woman while she sits looking up with hands in her lap.

Now only human noises and the hum of electronics can be heard among the false-silence. A soothing ringing of the infinite layers of serenely vibrating metal drowns out distant procedural buzzers, turning them into rhythmic echoes and a haunting resonance in the humming industrial atmosphere...

.

...Two black-clad figures, standing in light; one lit yellow, one lit white...

.

...Luke could just barely feel her essence seep into him again. So soft and warm. He wondered if she was trying to hide it with subtlety, or if maybe it was an accident, because she didn't look focused on using the Force like how he would've needed to be. But her face was showing signs of reading his feelings. With faint pinching of determined, thinking eyes, her expressions remain soft and subtle as they always were, with such smoothness when they settle, like massaging bread dough.

There was the temptation to talk to her, but there was much to be done. Luke notices R2 and 3PO had slipped out long ago, _thankfully I suppose_. But now he could really use a messenger, _or maybe this computer..._

"Terigo..." Luke says, making note of whether she responds instinctively like it is indeed her real name.

"Yes." She does.

"You're free to walk around, but stay on that half—in the yellow light. I have a lot to organize: checking in with our General, discussing missions, arranging dinner to be brought here, and so on. So..." He almost apologizes for inconveniencing her.

"Okay. Thank you," she says.

Again he almost apologizes, out of habit, and instead sighs through his nose.

"Guards: take breaks in turns, but keep sharp, and keep your blasters a split second away from firing, in case she uses the Force on one of us."

"Me first, my knee is killing me," says the oldest one, immediately sitting on a conveyor belt, resting his blaster to aim at her. The others sigh and rest their massive blasters, fiddling with how to keep them aimed without strain. They remain stiff and alert, if not more anxious now, now that the Jedi was dropping his guard.

The woman gets up immediately and starts to stretch while Luke starts to work on the computer. As time goes by, they both eye each other from time to time, especially when he thinks he hears her whisper. But she seems more interested in the guards. Eventually she lies down to continue watching them all with curious eyes...

 **|•|** **‹•› |•|**

Outside, in a junkyard decorated with blaster burns, Rebel soldiers finish testing their blasters against the red Perk shields. The massive translucent things gleam even redder—almost like embers—in the orange light of the sunset. Their lieutenants reluctantly order them to grab the shields and retire for the night.

Whether they were tired from the night sky of the Inverse Sea distorting their sense of time, or tired simply from a hard day's work, their exhaustion was easily shadowed by their laughter and boyish camaraderie from the pure glee-of-invincibility of holding a Perk shield.

 **|•|** **‹•› |•|**

Han Solo drifts his gaze from Luke's computer screen to the group that just entered the room. Leia storms out from this group towards Han.

"No," she barks at him. "No, tell me you're not getting involved in this—Luke—"

"Cool it," Han groans. He points to the computer screen, "I had already signed on to this mission before he did, I can't back out now."

"Like hell. Who's the recruiter? Which mission?" pushing him aside to look at the computer screen.

"It's Lieutenant Colonel Griggam," Luke says. "He apparently knows the ore industry well, but he's new to command. It's one reason why I chose his mission,—"

"Same here," Han mumbles with a quick glance to Luke.

"—they'll need the most help over there and—"

"And it will give us an idea who he is..." Leia says, connected to Luke's mind.

Terigo sits eating the last of her dinner and watches them like they were theater.

Leia sighs, rubbing her forehead with closed eyes, knowing she may have no influence over a Colonel she's never met. She holds back the fury she has for Han to speak to Luke, "And you _really_ think this is a good idea, bringing _that_ along" —thrusting her finger at Terigo— "when you don't know how capable this Lieutenant-whoever is, and you haven't tested her out to see if she won't kill you for thinking the wrong thing like how ugly her hair is or something."

Terigo's chewing slows as she only absent-mindedly combs her fingers through her tussled hair once, but wasn't bothered by Leia's comment.

"Hey," Han says. "I'm not going to borrow any money from her, so she'll have no reason to kill me."

"Killing you is the last of my worries, she's a Jedi like Luke—"

"Don't worry, it's three to one, we can handle her. Pretty ones can't fight worth a Gonk," giving her a sour eye before turning back to the computer screen.

Leia straightens with more than just sarcastic offense. Luke senses she's beyond consoling and reluctantly turns back to the computer screen. Leia says, "Fine, get out of here. Hope she kisses you with a Mynock."

Leia storms out. Terigo smiles from the two of them as if watching teenagers in love.

Han eyes Terigo's smile, "Don't get any ideas. She does that. That's her goodbye."

"What's a my-knock?" she asks.

He chuckles once, remembering that good ol' adventure of hiding in that space slug's cave-like belly, "A thing that looks like her, but you can shoot in the face."

She chuckles. Luke smirks to himself.

Luke presses a few final buttons and starts collecting the mess from the scraps of food at the computer. "I'm ready to take off. How 'bout you?"

"Yeah, I'm done. (I was just looking something up.) I made reservations just outside the base so we don't have to sleep here ever again," knowing his irritation for cramped noisy bunkers would be mutually understood. "Chewie will be back in the morning."

"How did you manage reservations? I couldn't get past the outer network."

Patting Luke on the shoulder, "Live and learn, kid. Live and learn."

Luke's eyes roll and he glares a little at Han from the corner of his eye, "Han..."

"What."

"...Never mind... I'm exhausted, let's go. Guards: follow us surrounding her until we leave the base. Get every little crumb," motioning to remnants of their dinner. "We don't want any more Lickers."

They all pull themselves together and collect their food scraps as Terigo stands while doing the same.

As they leave the room, her attention is suddenly drawn to the floor and then behind them, but she loses further interest. In the silence behind them, out of a nook in the floor, a slimy tentacle wiggles and convulses to lick up crumbs.


	3. CHAPTER 3 -- First Prep

Chapter 3

 **FIRST PREP**

* * *

THE BLUE LIGHT OF DAWN was still out by the time Luke, Han, and Terigo finished breakfast. This time, in their small inn room, none of them were concerned about tentacles.

Outside, in a market of mostly humans, the three start walking back to the base until a bright yellow hood on a passerby catches Terigo's eye. After looking at it casually, her breath stops and she halts to stare into the wearer more intently.

"Luke," she says, turning to him and catching up, "there's a clothing shop nearby, just down the way. May I ask that you take me there to get different clothes?"

"What?" Luke says, while Han just rolls his eyes and keeps walking.

She grew a little solemn as if ashamed to ask, "I could really use a hood if we'll be traveling in space, and I've always hated these black styles the Sith made me wear."

Luke pauses to absorb what she said while Han seemed to stop listening.

With a modest smile, she adds, "That and, what are people going to think if I still look like their enemy?" She manages a chuckle, tugging on her shirt.

Han crosses his arms and smirks, "You could _still be_ their enemy you know. What if you _should_ look this way."

She smirks back, plopping a hand on her hip.

Luke says, "I guess that means your deeds will need to outshine your clothes."

Her smile disappears, "Wait, so, it doesn't bother you that you look like a Sith Lord? Doesn't it bother everyone _else_ though? A savior dressed like their enemy..."

Luke grumbles and trails off: "You wouldn't understand. And don't call me a savior..."

Luke turns away to start walking again but catches the timid eyes of people staring. It troubles him as he takes a moment to brood on the thought. His brooding, however, causes him to miss that they were only staring because he was in their way of their stuff behind him.

Terigo asks, "Space doesn't get cold for you? Coming from a desert planet?"

"What?" _She read more than I thought._ Then Luke remembers the fragments of words he heard inside her about coldness, and the cold rocks inside her.

He sighs, "Fine. Where's the shop? How do you know where it is?"

"I read it from a passerby."

Luke looks to Han, both unamused.

Han shifts to one foot, skeptical, eyeing Luke, "Jedi magic, or a trick?"

"Let's go," Luke groans. "Han, maybe you can get supplies while we go."

.

Han plops a bag of supplies outside the clothing shop and slumps on a broken Gonk to wait. Terigo steps out of the shop with Luke, nearly humming. The guys try to groan away their boredom, but _she_ looks bright and reborn, not just from her pearly-white smile, but also her golden-yellow hood. She lowers it to allow it to drape as cowl, revealing a tidied up ponytail and a freckled chest to match her freckled bare forearms. Her overclothes manage to hug her figure as much as drape and are a brighter tan than her sun-bathed skin. If it were for her clothes alone, the guys may have only looked once, but it was her fit physique and welcoming full-faced smile that drew a longer glance.

Their boredom begins to melt until they both catch themselves, Luke attending to an itch on his right forearm as a decoy.

.

Entering a private shipyard, "Chewie! Fire up let's _go_!" Han yells.

As they walk to the lowering ship door, Terigo slows to gawk in awe at the whole ship.

Han sees her wonder and smirks, "Yep, this is the Millennium Falcon. She's only the fastest ship in the galaxy. She made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs."

Luke murmurs as he walks by her: "You know you're probably the first person that didn't think this thing looked like a piece of junk."

"Hey, I heard that," Han says as he stops at the top of the ship's ramp.

"I only said _looked_ like," smirking, giving a pat to Han's arm.

Terigo stops at the bottom of the ramp, "What's a fal—"

Han triggers the door to close while she's barely on it and she nearly topples off. Pleased with getting her back for making them wait, he saunters to the cockpit with a grin.

"Chewie, let's move, where are you?"

Down the hall, Terigo hears a series of what sounds like a seal gargling water. Chewbacca comes trudging from that direction towards the cockpit and both Terigo and Chewbacca halt when they see each other, making full eye-contact for a moment.

"Oh. Hi," she smiles in surprise and delight. "My name's Terigo," as if expecting a reply she could understand.

Chewbacca's head cocks for a moment of confusion. He chin-nods with a faint one-syllable bark and continues on. Terigo heads to the cockpit too and hears him speak complex yowls towards Han.

Han replies, "That's weird, why would she do that. She's another Jedi, like Luke, but..." groaning himself into concentrating on the ship.

She enters the cockpit to find Luke there, waiting idly. He watches her ogle at every nob and button and flashing light of every inch of the cockpit.

"Alright. Hang on sister," Han says.

Jostling her and making her tilt several times, the ship takes off. She watches the sky fade and suddenly change to black. Shortly after, she puts on her hood and brings her bare forearms closer, seeming cold. She turns to leave and waits for an ok from Luke before proceeding. Luke chin-nods the ok and follows her.

He watches her try to contain her lively curiosity as she strolls and darts and tiptoes around, popping her head into every room. He moseys behind her with his hands in his pockets. They occasionally eye each other, and while Luke does so to express _I'm still watching you_ , she seems to as if to say _ooo isn't this neat_ , though she looks away each time as if she forgot he was a stranger. She eventually sees everything there is and sits in the leisure-cabin on the padded bench.

She removes her hood but keeps it tight around her neck and looks at Luke, welcoming yet cautious. Her soft gaze doesn't leave his own, so he moseys over to sit in the tech-station chair at the other side of the cabin. He reclines slowly as if he were an all-powerful Jedi Master, feeling in control of the situation. And they began looking into each other with a bit of the Force. Luke feels that warmth in her again, but so much more. He feels layers of many simultaneous feelings, influencing every centimeter of her youthful face with complex emotions. Her use of her lower eyelids and the microscopic movements in pupil focus & position suggest the same complexity of thoughts.

He scratches an itch on his right forearm, and in that split-second of looking away, her essence turns tepid, like in the interrogation. Though her face hid it well, had he not felt her essence change, he wouldn't have noticed her subtle look of disappointment among her mildly glowing expression. Her eyes obscure it further by wandering around feather-light, showing interest in the ship again. Luke thinks, _What... What about itching turned her away? Or was it that? Maybe my cybernetic hand?_ —

The ship jostles a bit and a tool falls from above her out of her view. She catches it with one hand an inch from her head and sets it down, her thoughts uninterrupted, as if everyone did this all the time.

Luke's breath stops for just a second at this. He nearly smiles, but slyly smirks instead, "You haven't seen too many ships, have you?"

"Nope," grinning with a mix of excitement and despair. "Our planet stopped interacting with the galaxy about a century ago, and we never had a reason to even board a ship to go overseas—my brother and I."

He opens his mouth to ask about her planet or her brother, but her eyes show disinterest in connecting again. _Again, what does she—Why—_ "Why did you pull your essence away again. Are you afraid or something?"

"Afraid? No," looking him in the eyes. She would have chuckled if it weren't for a sudden seriousness taking over. Her serenity dies, turning into a hollow seriousness. Thoughtful yet emotionless. "The memories of your battles with your father are all over the surface of your mind, everywhere. That was hatred and fear that you fought with—cutting off his hand—and guilt—"

 _She knows about his hand_ —Luke's insides wrench, his eyes narrow hard and his whole body stiffens, but with effort, he manages to keep his reclined pose so to not reveal too much anger or guilt—not that she relied on what could be seen.

"—and an _arrogant_ confidence instead of a confidence of true mastery over fear." She shrugs, "And a little bit of love, for him and friends. But regardless, it wasn't what drove you, and—"

"No. You're wrong," but he didn't fully believe his words. His eyes keep darting away from hers. "If I hadn't mastered my emotions,—"

"Did you find yourself wearing black around that time?"

"…Yeah," he says cautiously. "What—"

"The Force's influence on our emotions tends to influence our attractions to similar things. It's why I love the color yellow," tapping her hooded-cowl, "bright yellow, like our sun." She clasps her hands and settles her elbows on her knees, "If you can't see the connection from the symptoms, well..." and briefly spreads her hands. "And it's not just that. I've dealt with Dark users for about 4 years now. You're closer to the Dark than you realize."

" _You're wrong_." Again, his eyes avoided hers, almost entirely. "I knew I shouldn't have asked," and gets up to storm out. At the edge of the room he halts, slamming his palm into the wall, knowing he can't let her leave his sight.

She asks, gently, "Why not? Why are you leaving?" And only using his words out of convenience, not out of mockery, she honestly asks, "Are you afraid or something?"

His palm against the wall slowly becomes a taut fist. "No." She could probably hear his teeth grinding and most certainly feel his searing essence.

She speaks very gently again, "Fear should be abolished... Faced..."

He turns around, his eyes wanting nothing to do with her, or himself, and he storms over to sit back down. "I'm not afraid of anything." A part of him wanted to hate her, or at least her words, but in the back of his mind, he wanted to hate himself more. He couldn't hate-away how her words made sense. But it meant he _was_ wrong and she was only the messenger. At the least, he could keep trying to force his eyes to stay on her, to face his fear and anger regardless of who was right.

But Chewbacca comes in. Luke readjusts himself and averts his gaze to brood, but she doesn't. She perks up.

She opens her mouth to speak but Chewbacca gargles and points at her.

"Oh, sorry. I had no idea." She scoots to the other side of the bench. Chewbacca takes her seat.

Her words had barely tugged once on Luke's attention so he continues to brood.

She says, "This table looks different than the rest of the ship. Is it a computer or something?"

Luke flicks his eyes to her, annoyed she would dare start a casual conversation with him now. But she's looking at Chewbacca instead.

Chewbacca low-barks some.

"Yes," she replies.

Chewbacca barks a bit more but Luke talks over him, "You can understand him?"

"Yeah."

Chewbacca barks some.

"No," she replies, then glances at Luke a moment to add, "I don't know the Wookie's language."

Chewbacca starts to speak again, but Luke cuts him off, "No... It's the Force, isn't it. Can you understand any language?"

"If the speaker has emotions, I can. No part of the Force can know the _words_ , but the Light can feel the emotions and thoughts behind them. The Dark is antipathy, the Light is empathy. The Mid is just halfway up to the Light: either half-empathic or apathic—emotionless—depending on how you look at it."

"And you said the Dark Side can only sense anger and fear," Luke says.

"Right... How I hid thoughts from Sacrifus. It's as if it only senses what would threaten them or make good prey. Whereas the Light can feel it all, and the Mid can feel some of both kinds, but usually not as deep as thoughts, just emotions."

"Chewie!" Han calls.

Chewbacca heads towards Han in the cockpit and the others follow.

"Chewie, I need you to co-pilot, there's ship remains everywhere."

Luke glances at Terigo, "The Colonel said they were attacked recently. Tested, now that he's new to command."

Outside the window, a planet spotted with greys, blues, and greens sits behind floating ship debris of different colors, mostly black Imperials.

"They're not as dense as a meteor shower though, so we can handle it, Chewie and me."

But one chunk hits an engine, causing it to explode not too far away from them. They all start. Flames fly out and die immediately while a blue flameball encases the rubble for a bit to eat away the rest of the oxygen and fuel. The debris is sent speeding into others, causing the potential for any of them to explode.

Being riled up by Terigo certainly worsens Luke's concern, "I'm going to sense for close ones you can't see," already closing his eyes to enter a semi-trance state.

"Fine, as backup. They aren't moving that fast," with hidden annoyance in his tone.

A silent moment goes by until Chewbacca whispers to Han.

"Ok, point them—"

Luke interrupts, "There's hot ones. They're most likely to explode."

"Luke, Chewie just told me that by reading our sensors. You're backseat-driiiiving agaaain. What did I tell you."

"I know, I'm sorry," Luke groans, returning back to his trance.

"With this ship, my flying is better than your magic any day kid."

Luke's trance falters at Han's last words. His built up frustration from Terigo—and now this—won't let Han's words go this time. "Han."

"What. I need to concentrate soon."

"Stop calling me _kid_."

They all freeze.

Thirty-five year old Han intermittently turns between twenty-five year old Luke and the debris, "Look, k—" almost saying the word again. To try to lighten the blow, he spreads a heavy layer of slow-spoken sass: "When, you're, as old, and, experienced, as I am, maybe, you'll understand." But his mild frustration for the situation overpowered any good intentions. Luke opens his mouth to bark, but Han sees Luke's scowl in time and raises his voice, "NOT that I think killing _Vader_ is any easy feat, _ok_. I mean I never _knew_ the guy, but I knew good bounty hunters that died by his hand, AND I saw his _hand_ deflect my baster fire and _steal_ _it_ from _across the room_... Ok?" forcing a smile that he wants to feel. He pats Luke on the arm once and turns back to focus on the controls.

Han didn't exactly realize how the V word was too touchy of a subject. He wasn't seeing Luke's face, nor did he have the Force to feel how Luke's insides became a hot blizzard, or how Luke choked it down to speak.

Luke manages to mumble, "Don't talk about our father." He wonders if Han even heard him or cares and gets caught up in another black-hole of brooding... just as Han's hand droops while holding down a button. Han's attention had broken from the controls for a moment of morbid sincerity to say, "...I'm sorry."

Luke had pulled back his essence entirely to emotionally wall himself off, and he was behind Han, so he could only judge from Han's _tone_ that he truly cared. And from bonding with him for five years. Chewbacca gives Luke a friendly nod and respectfully looks away. Luke's tension eases some, his arms uncross, and his eyes try to ignore anyone's gaze... yet his soul is grateful for their companionship.

Luckily, Luke is prevented from brooding further by the consistent maneuvering and increasing density of debris requiring his attention. For several minutes, Han maneuvers smoothly and slowly while Chewbacca and Luke give calm feedback.

Towards the last scraps, when Chewbacca gargle-barks and points, Han says, "Cylinder shaped giant, got it."

Luke says, "You mean the one behind it? It's going to HIT—"

An explosion on the backside of the cylindrical object propels it forward with great speed. Han veers a hard left-360, "HOLD ON, HOLD ON!" as Luke hits the left wall behind Han and Terigo is nearly slammed into him. Their feet had left the floor for just a quarter second when upside-down.

Luke barks, "I said there was a cold one behind it, your sensors—"

"I know!" with a wry grin and cocked nod, "That's how I _dodged it_. THANK YOU JEDI." Han was really only sarcastically angry to poke fun at Luke. "Next time, hold on better, sucker," with a huge teeth-showing smirk.

Luke sees Terigo enjoyed it and was smirking with Han's humor, but she doesn't look like she'll be letting go of Chewbacca's chair until they land. She says thoughtfully, "Heh, your ship's gravity works really fast on such a small ship."

"Thank you!" Han says, turning to smile at her. "Custom built with rare parts, hun. _Expensive_. Maybe that's why I let it _look_ like a piece of junk."

A blinking red light away from Han's view catches Luke's concern. "Han. The stabilizer is overheated, look."

Han eyes it, mumbles, and starts steering again. "Ah, it does that whenever she jostles around these days. Just a frayed connection. When you hear the sound, _that's_ when it's actually overheated."

"Are you sure?" Luke says, still anxious.

"Yeah. Calm down, k—alright."

Terigo puts on a weary helpful smile to attempt to ease his mood by saying, "It's just a… a fluke, Luke," reluctantly squeezing out the pun.

Luke's eyes half roll while Han groans.

"Hey," Han says, "do me a favor sweetheart. Don't ever say that again."

She laughs. "I know! I'm a terrible person," saying the last bit through her teeth.

Her choice of words bothers Luke. He mumbles: " _Are_ you." But he immediately regrets saying it out-loud, hoping he lowered his voice in time.

.

In a large base surrounded by a blue lake and hills of greens and greys, they park the Falcon and head out, heading for their lodging. Upon entering their living quarters, Han tosses his pack and stretches his back, opening his arms wide to the wide room. Even Luke perks up some to the sight of plush seating, sparkling counters, windows instead of industrial walls, and especially potted plants.

"Ah, a Royalty Flat," Han says. "That's why I _love_ traveling with a Jedi," giving Luke several congratulatory pats on the back.

Chewbacca boyishly rubs Luke's head as Luke fidgets with a wilted plant's dripper nozzle. Luke pays no attention to his comrades until he gets water to drip out. Memories of his home—the moisture farm—flood him, weighing him down. All the hard meaningless work Aunt Beru had him do on her plants... _So meaningful now_. On the other side of the room, Terigo slowly slides her finger down a plant leaf and looks out the many windows at the vast three-story view. Han closes the curtains in front of her and continues with the rest as Luke does the same on his side of the room.

Han jokingly gripes, "What is he doing giving us this many windows to guard. He's asking for our assassination."

Luke tries to smile but it starts falling, "I know, it's a shame. I rarely get to see green."

"Aside from your sword," Han says. "Ah, hell, have you seen what time it is here?"

Luke turns his head to see Han's gaze leaving a clock.

"I was hoping to get lunch before the briefing," and Han sighs. "Fix your hair a little bit, will ya. First impressions."

"I'm going to double-check the holocomm system," combing his hand through his Chewbacca-tussled hair once, "we don't have much time," investigating the other rooms. "The last one cut my head off the hologram because someone bumped the recorder or something, and everyone on the other end was too nervous to mention it to a Jedi."

"What are you going to do with her?" Han says, nodding his chin to Terigo while he pulls out a comb to tidy his own hair— _Not too tidy, have to look used to rough work._

Luke exits a room to look at Terigo for a moment before saying, "Well, guess what. I've thought of my first test for you," waving her to the room he exited.

Though she was looking at him, she didn't reply, seeming maybe half attentive. Just as he opens his mouth again, she moves to the room.

Luke points to a device beside a king-sized bed, "This comm station can only reach the lodge staff. Do you know how—"

"Yes, I can. I'll have food brought over. Go have fun," speaking quickly and flashing a grin, understanding they're in a hurry.

Luke pauses a moment as he realizes she had read his mind yet again. She had sat to start using the comm station but looked back at him still standing there while he realizes he wouldn't be able to keep _anything_ from her. _She might as well be sitting in on the briefing to make things easier. I'll run it by the Colonel._

His concern rises higher. Then he sighs and walks out.

.

The door to the conference room unlocks and Luke, Han, and Chewbacca walk out from the finished briefing.

Luke sighs, "Sounds like we're going to be doing most the work, considering he's still so busy with new employment."

Han shrugs. "That's not such a bad thing. I prefer my own way, as long as I'm paid beforehand."

Luke shrugs one shoulder. The three sit in the center lounge and bask in the white pillowy recliners for a good long breath.

Luke sighs, "I'm going to meditate," and closes his eyes, trying to let the much built-up tension steam away.

"Sounds good." Han flops his head towards Terigo sitting patiently in the sunroof's light. She had been looking to the closest window as if the curtains were open, as if her thoughts were far in the distance, bleakly content. Han says, "When's food—"

The front doorbell chimes. "Now," she says, a smile returning, and she gets up to answer the door. Han notices her hand on her saber, but lazily leans back awaiting service.

Luke takes a deep breath, fighting between hunger and his need to relax his unsteady essence.

"Well," Han says, "food is the best meditation, you've said..." but Luke concentrates harder.

Terigo wheels in a cart of covered food and starts unloading it to the short drink-table in front of them. "Luuunnchh," she nearly sings.

Han could swear he heard her humming, secretly glaring at her to stop it. Han and Chewbacca start removing lids and filling their plates, and once the last dish hits the table, the warm smell opens Luke's reluctant eyes. As she returns the cart to the doorman, Han grumbles to Luke, "Her cheerfulness, ugh, she's getting on my nerves, smiling all the time. And I could _swear_ I heard her humming just now. It makes me miss Leia." But he wasn't exactly serious about either.

Seeing Han busy with food, Luke pulls himself up to pay the waiter, but Terigo motions for him to stop. "It's alright, sit back down," she says. "I paid for it already. Cash. On me."

Luke says, "You—"

Han interrupts, food in mouth, "Where'd you get the money, Leia wouldn't have funded you."

"I stole it yesterday from someone in the market who didn't need it and shouldn't have it," her tone showing no concern over possible reprimand. She plops down on the floor to allow Luke to have the plush two-seater to himself. Luke sits and they both start eating without much interest in each other.

Chewbacca gargles words and food. Han adds, "Yeah, how much did you steal? You really went all-out. They're going to notice a few hundred is missing, I mean you ordered crispy Bog belly and charred Flapper steak—" Chewbacca gargles words again, pointing at both his and Han's meal, "—Yeah and sea-flanks with hot paste, _with_ the head, _with_ the fat—" he jokingly tosses down his serving spoon in realization, switching to a fork. Accusatory, "You read my mind for this. No cook leaves the head on for human customers."

"Yep," cheerfully eating her food. "During our last meals I read what you'd rather be eating."

Luke shook his head on the inside, bewildered with what he's gotten himself into with this constant mind reading. _Asking her to stop wouldn't do any good if she disobeyed. Even if I developed a heightened sense of when she was doing it, I couldn't sense it every time._

She adds, "And their back was turned, of course, so they couldn't identify me."

Han's eyebrows bob up, glancing at Luke, " _Well_. I changed my mind about what I said," he says with good-humor. "It'll be real handy having an extra swindler _and_ an extra Jedi around. Two for one."

She jokes along, "Changed your mind about what?—"

"N—"

"—Your career?" She smirks, pretending to ignore him.

Chewbacca clearly laughs and barks some to Han.

Han pretends to be insulted by her, "Ha, I changed my mind back again," looking at Luke, all in good humor.

The food and smiles had begun to relax Luke and cheer him up, so he manages a half-grin.

Chewbacca says something and points at Terigo then thumps Han's shoulder with the back of his hand.

"Yeah we'll see," Han mumbles, lightly glaring at Terigo when she's not looking. After another bite, Han's thoughts change topic, so he asks her, "That wasn't me was it, that someone who shouldn't have money—" but Terigo was already chuckling and shaking her head no.

"Just a black-market trafficker. He had red-braided tentacles."

Han says, "Oh, _that_ guy. He bumped into me, I think he was trying to pickpocket me. Heh. _Now_ I _hope_ you're telling the truth. It'd get that _sucker_ back." He looks to Luke, "What d'ya think, lie detector?"

Luke shifts and looks away, embarrassed, "I wasn't exactly reading her at the time."

"Why not," pausing from eating for only a second. "If she can lie to the Imperials for 4 years, we must be a piece of cake. Stay sharp, Jedi." He was mostly teasing him. Han's lie-detecting skills were comparable to a Jedi, and he didn't get the feeling she was lying.

Regardless, Luke's eyes do a groaning-roll from realizing Han's right, and from being disappointed with himself.

He looks at her and thinks of their conversation on this ship. With the successful meal, suddenly she was 1 for 1 again; a wrong balanced with a right, somewhat. It didn't make Luke want to be any more friendly towards her after what she said, and all else was still a mystery. Han glances at her too, watching her eat, loosely sitting there with her elbow on the table without a care in the world. Then Han and Luke eye each other, both thinking how she could be playing them just like she did the Sith Lord. Of course, she would know they were thinking this and could prevent any attack they made on her. Of course she was carefree...

So they all just chew silently for a while, enjoying good food and good company, while it lasts...

.

A glass of water hovers from the kitchen sink to their table. Han notices that it will pass an inch away from his reclining head.

Han says, "I wish you'd stop doing that. You—"

"I haven't spilled a drop in months, Han," Luke says evenly. He was all smiles by now, pleasantly stuffed with food, and had returned to his calm Jedi demeanor.

Han grabs it midair, " _Thank_ you," takes a chug and plops it by his own food. "Too slow, _Jedi_ ," saying 'Jedi' with nearly the same condescendence as 'kid,' casually pretending to ignore Luke and reclining. Then he peeks at Luke anyway, unable to resist seeing Luke's reaction.

Luke tries to hide a smirk to maintain his calm demeanor, harboring sneaky thoughts. Then Terigo tries to hide a smirk too, slowly raising her hand to pick at her teeth to hide it. Luke concentrates serenely for a bit and they hear the sink filling another glass of water. A moment later, Han flinches to the sight of a very full glass an inch over his eye, and jerks to try to dodge the water that intentionally sloshes into his lap. They all snicker once at his effort and he repositions himself to relax, pretending it was only water, which it was, but it was still cold.

"Ha, ha," he drones, half congratulating Luke and half annoyed with childish play. He smirks an all-knowing fatherly smirk at Luke, thinking: _A twenty-something is still a kid, kid._ Then he grumbles to himself and looks away, realizing: _Ahh, but, if anyone told me that at his age, it would have made me worse. Guess there's no helping it._

Chewbacca begins to rumble lighter and softer than usual to say quite a bit. Luke sees Terigo start reading his thoughts and figures he should try too. Terigo and Han hear Chewbacca say, "This was great, all this food. It makes me miss Leia. But it also makes me glad there's a girl on board again."

With a little curious sarcasm, Terigo asks, "What does being a girl have to do with anything?"

Han jokes to Chewbacca, "I wouldn't exactly call Leia a girl. I've seen her in battle more than _you_ have. Don't let her sweet little hair bun fool you. It may _look_ like a sweetcake..."

Chewbacca says, "Hey I know her really well too. We spend time together when she's mad at you and when Luke's not around," thudding his shoulder for Leia, knowing how much she frets over him. "Maybe it's just a female thing, or maybe it's her Force, but it's like she can understand some of what I say, kind of like Terigo does."

Luke was trying very hard to concentrate on Chewbacca, but even though such a long statement would be great practice, he could barely make out anything. But he keeps his focus on Chewbacca to try to read his thoughts even when there weren't words spoken, thinking maybe that would be easier.

Han thinks about Chewbacca's words but has nothing to add at the moment, so Terigo speaks up after the pause, "I'm getting the feeling that if she _was_ girly, you two wouldn't like her as much." She shrugs whimsically to say: "So I still don't see what me being a girl has to do with anything."

Chewbacca says, "Girls talk more. It's nice to have someone else to talk to other than him," jabbing a thumb at Han.

Han reclines more to reply with sassy lethargy, "Oh, is that right. And since when are you so talkative. You gonna to start wearing your hair in a bun too?"

Chewbacca chuckles once. "Don't need to. It already looks tidy compared to yours, you bald Wookie."

Han only smirks and closes his eyes, so Chewbacca looks to Terigo for her reaction. But she's looking at Luke, and she's wearing a somewhat forlorn smile that slowly grows warmer, realizing Luke's trying to learn. Chewbacca sees Luke is concentrated on him and that he stops when he notices Chewbacca's stare, so Chewbacca chin-nods at Luke to ask Terigo, "What? You know you should teach him to understand me too, it would really help with missions together."

She replies, "He _was_ actually, just—"

Luke says defensively, "I couldn't understand much of anything," sheepishly avoiding eye-contact with Chewbacca.

Chewbacca says a sentence and Terigo translates, "He says: too bad. He wishes you could, it would at least help with missions, he said."

Luke looks a little wide-eyed at Chewbacca, a little shocked, thinking Chewbacca would have been mad about invading the privacy of his mind without permission. _Maybe he doesn't have private thoughts, or maybe he's not ashamed of them. Maybe he's over whatever's in his past. He_ is _two-hundred._ He half-glares at Terigo, then glances at Chewbacca, and his pride readjusts his posture. "Ok. Teach me."

Chewbacca reclines—hands behind his head—and props his feet on the low table.

She asks, "So, how do you do it with Leia?"

Luke ponders that while he says, "I don't kn... It just, happens. We've never had to try, especially while I'm training her to use the Force. It's just our powers growing stronger." He looks proud of that power and its effortless connection with Leia.

"I doubt it's your power getting stronger." Terigo's soft smile becomes larger for a moment, then becomes a serious one. She asks Luke, "So before, just now, well, I'm going to guess why it failed." One of Luke's brows narrows, but he braces himself, shifting in his seat a tad. She continues, "You and Leia both _want_ to read each other, and you can both use the Force, so those two things alone make it easy. If someone only _pushes_ their essence into someone else, they won't get very far. You have to _want_ to connect it to them. And it helps if they want to connect with _you_. Empathy vs. Antipathy. Light vs. Dark."

Chewbacca asks a question.

"Antipathy?" she asks. "It's like hostility. Or selfishness, or dominance. Basically, any childish feeling."

The idea of childish vs. not-childish speaks to Luke in volumes. Roars. His pride and determination beams within his cool shell, but it gets mixed with the insecurity of past guilts and painful failures. He calms these pains for now—ignores them—and sits tranquil, emotionless, like his training. He concentrates on Chewbacca, trying to _want_ a connection, to see how his extended essence behaves with different desires. He continues to do so while the other two recline and Han fades closer to a nap.

The energy of the room dwindles into relishing the haze of their food-comas. Eventually, Han slowly rubs his face awake and sees Luke doing nothing too unusual, appearing to be meditating. Han gets up and stretches his back once. Terigo starts cleaning up and Chewbacca moves slowly to help, hoping it doesn't disturb Luke. Luke pulls his mind back into the room and tells them the cleaning droids will get this mess, then looks to Han. They both silently nod that it's time to get going.

Han heads to the meeting room while announcing, "Let's get moving. I'm going to pack the data. Chewie, pack everything else, and Luke, arrange transports." He exits the meeting room to face her having nothing to do. He comically glares at her for a moment until very real concerns about bringing her quickly flood in. He washes it away, knowing there's little to do about it now, and tries to joke about her smiling at a time like this: "Sweetie, just because this is where the _fun_ begins doesn't mean it _will_ be."

She gives the faintest of scoffs, plops her hand on her hip, and reduces her smile to return an eye-roll that playfully says 'whatever, jerk,' before letting more serious emotions show instead of her eagerness.

Luke gently rubs a leaf of his plant between his thumb and fingers as he passes. Some of its wilt was already starting to heal.


	4. CHAPTER 4 -- First Mission

Chapter 4

 **FIRST MISSION**

* * *

A SPECK OF BLACK AND YELLOW ride along a grey cliff's edge surrounding a crater-made lake that had once seen pristine days. The blueness of Ore Lake and the summer-greens of the forests had yet to be completely muddied by the murk of this area's growing iron industry. Along the cliff's edge, a rockcruiser carrying Luke, Terigo, Han, and Chewbacca slow to a stop at a lookout point.

The young driver darts out of the cruiser and nervously opens the side-gate for the exalted group to step out. He hands Luke binoculars and points to unscaleable cliffs on the opposite side of the lake, "That high rocky patch is it. The East Bank Mines. And waaay down the cliff to the right you can see the white specks of stormtroopers near South-East Guard and our base in the South. The lake is at the center of the north, south, east, and west, by the way."

Luke hands the binoculars to Han. The driver points out to Luke the whole left side of the lake, "That's allll North Bank." His nervousness is pushed aside by something in him more pressing, politely saying, "Please be nice to them, sir, if you can. They're neutral so they can stay alive. They don't know when the Imperials will overpower us, the power changes here all the time. So we think it's okay they're neutral, we don't push them to join to wipe out the Imperials now, because they say they could get wiped out a year from now if the Imperials come back. _'There will always be ore here'_ they say." By now he was visibly trembling, from whatever his concerns were in that area, and from asserting himself so much to—essentially—royalty. His youth was most visible now, looking to be no more than a kid in Rebel hand-me-downs.

Han had ignored the kid to use the binoculars and had turned on a handheld holomap to take notes of the location in the geographic hologram. The kid sees it and says, "You—You—uh, don''t have any, any, um explosives on you do you?" His head partially ducked into his shoulders, "I'm just checking I'm sorry, their scanners pick-up any weapons or vehicles."

Han had no interest in wide-eyed wimps, so Luke answers, "Yes we were informed. Our holomap and lightsabers were cleared as undetectable."

"...And you're not going to blow it up the mine like the Death Star are you?" the kid asks sheepishly.

"With what explosives," Han states with a tone of finality.

"No," Luke says, almost with a chuckle, but the concern of killing thousands was no laughing matter.

"Ok good, I was just checking because all of my brothers have been snuck into North Bank, undercover, and—"

Luke comforts him as a Jedi Master should, "Don't worry. Our commands include only taking out known Imperials."

Han says, "Yeah, meaning only people wearing white or black," glaring a 'you-hear-that' at Terigo. Luke looks at her too but quickly remembers to switch to looking _into_ her. Han looks to Luke to see if he's thinking the right thing, and by the look of Luke's concentration towards her, Han becomes pleased just enough to make a joke. "Except our _Jedi_ here," patting Luke on the shoulder. "But he has this wild notion that black looks professional instead of evil. Jedi: What can ya do," shrugging blandly, looking to move on. Luke rolls his eyes with an embarrassed smrik.

Han motions to a massive steel-rod fence with a giant paw wiggling out of it. Between the fence, they see what has come over to say hi: a thirty-foot-long creature a foot taller than them that looks made out of only dreadlocks and two black eyes as big as their heads. Han squints to groan, "This our Dreadback?"

"Yeah," the kid says with a new-found joy. He trots over to pet the wooly bird-shaped paw and says, "Bready's a sweetheart, we raised her. She loves old bread, so we named her Breadhead." As he starts unlocking the fence gate, he mistakes Han's look of disgust with confusion, so he explains, "We're taking her because they're sending scanners further and further out from North Bank these days, so we've got a ways to go, but she'll get us there a lot faster than walking."

Han flaps a tired hand of 'I know I know.'

.

In the smooth weaves and bobs, Luke manages to relax his essence on Bready's back to heighten his reflexes, allowing him to balance himself without needing to hold onto a dreadlock like the others. The five sit shoulder-to-shoulder along Bready's spine: the driver in front of Luke, then Han, Chewbacca, and Terigo in that order, all comfortably hip-deep in hair. Bready's thumbed paws allow her to grip rocks and rough terrain without slipping, carrying the group along as smoothly as an ocean raft.

Between tugs of Bready's reins, the kid gazes thoughtfully at the white specks of stormtroopers across the lake. "Um, Master Jedi Luke sir?"

"Yes?"

"So, um, how come people join the Imperials and listen to them and stuff? I mean my other brothers and other slaves at the mine outnumber the stormtroopers, like 10 to 1. So what's so scary about them that my brothers over there can't rebel too?" His face shows a saddened determination of overcoming his fears so to become a man.

Han wasn't interested in this kid's blabber, so with finality, he says, "They pay better, trust me."

The stimulus of a new challenge, new people, and bright sunlight had kept Terigo smiling, until now. Her entire body and tone becomes neutral, focusing on the distant specks to reply, "They don't pay slaves, just soldiers. They sell the idea that their only freedom is a higher form of service. But it's all slavery. And they'll all die."

For the kid's sake, Luke tries to keep the conversation's tone in-line with Han's sarcasm. At least Han's comment was more positive. "Jaba froze you for a trophy, that can't be worth the risk. And now you're on our side."

"Hey," Han blandly jokes, "if the women on their side weren't so ugly..." with a weak smirk and an elbow bump.

With some silence and rhythmic breaths of Bready, Luke's thoughts meander on the kid's topic, welcoming an opportunity to broaden a young mind. He speaks with a mentor's softness, "To answer your question: They follow the same desires as the Sith Lord that owns them. The Dark Side of the Force seems primal, childlike," glancing at Terigo inadvertently from remembering her use of the word. "My master explained they cling to three _simple,_ _primal_ desires: only anger, fear, and aggression."

Han retorts, "You know, you're making her religion sound _sophisticated_. Watch it."

"It's true," Terigo says, almost too quiet to hear.

Even though they knew from her tone what she meant, Han jokes, "What, _sophisticated_?"

"No," and chuckles once before returning to an even, concerned tone. "Even though my father always pressed the ascension from Dark to Light, now that I've witnessed such Darkness myself, I hardly understand how one can live like that. I never saw them celebrate or even eat cake. Some of the lowest slaves would slap backs and talk, but higher-ups just compete and belittle and feel proud when they get promoted because someone got strangled by a Sith throwing a temper tantrum."

Luke speaks to the kid but faintly smirks at Han while giving him a look from the corner of his eye, "See, childlike."

Terigo seems to kindle her emotions back by focusing on the curiosity of the subject, "...I've never even seen the mess halls have those dry sweet clay cakes. I mean they're cheap, you can get them anywhere, all the kids would buy them with whatever credit they could find."

Han groans a switch in topic to one he hated less—or not so less; griping _was_ a recreational delight, "Uhg. Clay cakes,—"

Chewbacca gargles in agreement.

"—those bring back memories." Thumbing Chewbacca, "We once had to survive off those things for a week. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why the central heater always chugs. I couldn't get all the vomit outa the stupid thing."

To this, they all smile in their own ways, Han's smile turning into a jaded smirk as it usually does.

Luke's ascended demeanor invites more of this kid's eager youth, warmed by it, "You're awfully young. What's your name again?"

"Oh. Jag," his mouth shaking wider until all his teeth bravely show, excited to divulge himself to anyone, much less a _Jedi_. "I'm 14. All my brothers and sisters are helping fight the Imperials. We all came from the orphanage," pointing at the East Bank Mines across the lake. "The Rebels can't afford enough soldiers here, so we're helping get our mine back. I didn't like working there, but my older brothers worked there a lot and they're tough, they say it toughens you up, so I want to work there again even though I don't want to. But fighting them will make me tough too, and if we kill them quick, they won't send more for a while, Dub said. He said their leader was just killed so now everyone's going crazy trying to get in or get out, and no one has the money to do any of that."

 _Darth Sacrifus,_ Luke thinks.

But Han was having unrelated thoughts. He thinks, _If I say this, it might kill two birds with one stone,_ three _actually: It could get the kid to stop talking, and maybe saying this to_ him _would soften the blow to both Luke's_ and _her egos, education by proxy._ He scoffs and adds some sarcasm to hide the condescendence towards them all, knowing the fake sincerity wouldn't be enough: "Gosh, you're not even 30 yet _kid_? You sure have a long way to go before you can start saying you're _ascended_."

The kid didn't really understand. But Luke understood the word 'kid' was for _him_. Terigo understood 'ascended' was for her.

As Luke rolls his eyes back to the boy, Terigo turns her head. "No... I'm not," she says. Her gaze droops to the lake but focuses on nothing there, as if seeing nothing but memories.

Just before her reply, Luke had felt a sudden spark in her of a blaze in winter, strong enough that he felt it without concentrating. He turns his head to her and sees nothing unusual, just a neutral face. Though she hadn't sounded sad , her sudden change in tone, to something quiet and delicate, suggested that questions about her reply would be too personal. He remembers she's practiced with _hiding_ emotions, and that spark was nagging too much on his curiosity, and nagging on his concern for her allegiance. He closes his eyes... and senses wavering tepidness. The blazing winter was completely gone. _Is this just a mask...? What are you hiding?_ So, he remembers to _want_ a connection to try to read more than just emotions...

Sparse civilization starts coming into view as they head down the hill. Han had learned not to bother Luke when his eyes were closed, but his eyes open anyways, having not sensed any more about Terigo than he had with Chewbacca.

The driver brings them to a stop among a few scattered iron buildings. He turns to them, "Ok, so um, this is as far as they let us. The locals get pretty aggressive if we go farther." Bready lowers to the ground, they dismount, and drape on simple shabby ponchos. The driver stays on and says his goodbyes by trying to keep his enthusiastic waving & smiling under strict control.

.

Civilization here meant gravel roads, stone blocks, and iron. There was plenty of it from the mine.

As they walk further into the North's populated territory, they realize pretty quickly to take back-alleys to avoid the many civilians from gawking at Chewbacca, though most people in this part look too poor to care. The majority of people are either human or muscular rocky-skinned aliens that don't seem native, but seem well-fit for laborious industrial work. In some dark empty nooks, Han turns on his holomap to make their way towards a river.

"Alright," Han says with relief. "I can see the river through those buildings." Pointing along the right of the river, "That way is east, upriver, leading towards the stormtrooper base. I'll find us a water speeder dealer."

Luke says half serious, "It would be quicker and safer if I do so by mind reading, people around here look simple-minded enough for my powers to find those thoughts. That way we wouldn't have to draw more attention to ourselves by asking questions."

"You mean if _she_ mind reads. But it'll still be quicker if I do it."

"Why? How do you intend to?"

"Dealers have a certain..." Han does a one-shoulder-shrug and wince, "look. I don't know, the posture? The eyes? Subtleties, k—Jedi. Comes with experience. No magic could be quicker than being able to size-up someone instantly," giving a 'you-must-be-joking' eye to both Luke and Terigo.

Luke's brows squash flat, "You think that because you haven't felt what it can do."

Han sighs, not wanting to get in an argument now. "Fine, let's have a contest. Between the three of us. Find a speeder dealer."

Luke says with an eye-rolling groan, "We're wasting time."

Han smirks and thuds Luke's arm, "Oh how. That's three pairs of eyes instead of one."

Terigo's attention was pulled away from civilians and is now meagerly aimed at what they're discussing. "That's not exactly fair. I've been trained to use the Force since childhood. He just started 5 years ago. But, well, do what you want. It _would_ be good practice for him," looking away, apathetic, starting to look into civilian minds, aside from whatever contest they start.

"Well," Han chuckles once and grumbles, "looks like she already started. I'll be looking, without asking questions. Join if you want Luke," and starts looking around.

Luke adjusts himself and does the same. They meander around the area together, making their way to the river, and follow along the river's parallel walkway. After much looking, just as Luke starts to get the hang of touching on minds, Chewbacca speaks quietly and points to a human near a sign.

"Oh," Han says, defeated. "Chewie found one."

Terigo chuckles and Luke looks to both of them for a translation. Terigo says, "He says the sign says 'Speeder Dealer' in a language that he was around before Han was even born."

Chewbacca playfully rubs Han's head and adds, "I've seen more of this galaxy than you have. I'm older than you three kids put together you know."

Han groans, "You only remind me of that every birthday. Mine _and_ yours."

As they draw nearer to the hard-eyed dealer, Luke notices Terigo's expression turn dead, then friendly. Just as Han opens his mouth to greet the dealer, Terigo says nicely, "Give us the keys to your speeders."

Appalled, Han looks to her but her eyes are locked on the dealer's, on his mind. Han opens his mouth again to object, but the dealer grabs his keys and hands them to her, leaving Han's mouth open for longer still.

She touches the man's arm and orders, sweetly, "Walk that way for 15 minutes—jog actually, you could lose some weight," pointing away from the speeders. As he moves, she smiles with a falsely friendly tone of having tricked a trickster at his own game, "Thank you."

She hands the keys to the flabbergasted group and they head down to the speeders as Luke speaks up, "We're not here to cause these people trouble. If—"

"What," she says, forcing friendliness over a hump of bitterness, "you couldn't feel that murderous streak in him? He shouldn't have property, he'll just kill more. To be perfectly honest," and her tone becomes grey, "I would have executed him if you weren't here or concerned about that. That is, if executing him wouldn't have caused a riot meaning more good people would die in the long run." Her default smile returns by the last of these words.

Han's smirk returns, "Execution aside, that trick might come in handy. Why don't _you_ do that, _Jedi?_ " teasing lightly.

"I do, Han. You just choose not to notice when my requests have more influence than they should. Maybe so you can still call me _kid_ ," teasing less than Han.

They discretely trot to four of six water speeders chained to trees.

"Oh great," Terigo says with no concern and a chuckle. "There's not enough room for two people." Their heads whip to her. They all continue to unlock the speeders in haste while their gazes request clarification. Upon seeing their brows change for the worse, she says, "Inanimate objects are not my thing... But, that's ok. I'll just read your minds to learn how. How _fast_ do they go?"

" _Really_ fast," Han snaps. _This ponytailed-princess can't even pilot speeders?_ Han warns, "If you dare start complaining about these things blowing your hair..."

"I—No—" tussling her hair to prove she doesn't mind. With confidence and the joy of a new thrill, "I'll just tell my mind to treat the incoming terrain like blaster fire. I'm trained to detect _that_ at high speeds."

"What?" Han says, already done with her nonsense.

Luke watches her with parental concern as she tries her speeder. She turns it on, gives it a test-thrust, and wobbles it around them before Han barks, "No no no, we're not doing this. _He'll_ be back any second and _you're_ going to blow up."

"Terigo," Luke yells smoothly, "Just get on the back of m—"

Chewbacca had spoken to her at the same time. She had looked to Chewbacca and not Luke. "What?" So he repeats. She brightens differently, now smiling more with her mouth than her brows, and replies, "Ok." She gladly dismounts with a jump, runs over, and hurdles onto Chewbacca's back. She hugs him and grips his hair to prevent from falling off. "Ok, let's go."

.

Zooming past rocks and rapids, after miles of cliffs & trees lay behind them, the four spot battered buildings scattered up a grey rocky hill. They dismount a ways away from a tiny lonesome shack and Han turns on his holomap heading towards it.

Han says, "Ok, so—"

"HEY!" a stormtrooper says meters away, "I think I heard a bugrock!" pointing in their direction, yelling to another stormtrooper a ways behind him. Luke's group rushes to hide behind the shack while the second stormtrooper trots over to the first and raises his blaster, "Where? Better not!" He looks back and around, frantically.

Huddled closely, Chewbacca raises his crossbow dangerously close to Han's cheek, but Han gently presses his finger on the bow's tip, lowering it, eyeing him to wait for his signal.

Three more stormtroopers with a cargo hauler come from the side-bushes to check in with the first two.

"Oh thank goodness," says the first one, the shortest.

"What _now_ Frankle,—" says the annoyed third.

"Bugrock, he heard one," says the second, raising his blaster in the shack's direction.

Terigo whispers, "So what are we waiting for, let's go get them." Her smile was burning with determination.

But apparently smiling was not what Han had in mind. "Hey," he says sharply and quickly, "your cheerfulness isn't going to win any battles, missy. Take it down a notch and get serious."

She slowly smiles even bigger, lips closed, her whole face blazing with the promising thrill, as if she was saying 'oh you just _watch_.' It only irks Han even further.

The stormtroopers start coming their way, blasters raised, ready for something possibly worse than them. Han motions for them to go around the shack to get the troops from behind when they pass, so they sneak around, except— _Where's that woman?—_

— _Pssshhhew_ —Stormtroopers yell, " _What_ the—!" " _Stay there_!" " _No way_!"

Han and Luke's eyes burst widest for a moment before bolting to action. _Pssshhhew-bright-green_ comes Luke's lightsaber and they hear blaster fire. He jumps out and dodges a shot to see Terigo deflecting shots with her saber. Han stays behind the shed wall, giving cover to Chewbacca moving behind a tree, then they both cover Luke as he heads for the troops.

The stormtrooper nearest Terigo falls from a deflected laser. Chewbacca shoots another down. Han wounds another running away from Terigo, running towards Luke, and Luke cuts him down without having to move. Terigo does a running swing to lob the head off the next-closest to her while she uses that momentum to do a 360-spin and kicks the last stormtrooper towards Luke, and again he cuts him down without having to move more than an arm muscle. Precise and effortless. With two years of missions and training—one year mostly alone—with his deeply determined will to grow—his improved skill was just starting to shine.

Han and Chewbacca take a deep breath while the other two & the lobbed head settle. Luke and Han notice Terigo had fully enjoyed herself, and she looks back at them to see if they feel the same. But her disappointment of seeing their scowling faces only closes her open smile, it doesn't dampen anything else. She and Luke sheathe their lightsabers, then she looks to the forest as if the guys were uninteresting, as if hoping someone else would pop out shooting. That got to Han.

Han thrusts his finger at her and glares at Luke with frustration meant for her, "How is it that she can just go _prancing_ into battle like she's at a _dance_ _rehearsal_."

Luke almost thinks this was an attack on Luke's Jedi skills, as if his serious composure seemed tense and inexperienced compared to her nonchalance. But Terigo answers as she forces interest to the forest, carrying a tone as if reciting a passage from childhood lessons, "The sun's _light_ gives us life and warmth, but its _blaze_ can burn us to ash." She glances at Luke, "Anyone from a two-sunned desert would know that," then takes interest in the shed, bearing a softer smile of curiosity and boredom.

Luke's eyes grow curious too, "What does that mean exactly. It's about the Light Side of the Force, isn't it. _Your_ Light Side."

A corner of her smile rises larger for a moment, pleased with his willingness to learn, however her eyes almost at look him but don't. "The Dark gains _destructive_ power from _hatred_ causing _misery_. The Light gains _con-_ structive power from... _happiness_."

Luke's eyebrow twitches among his otherwise frozen body. His mouth opens to almost ask _'huh?'_

But Han rolls his eyes, "Are we done here, let's move. It's not far from here."

They start walking, but Luke remains perplexed by her words, unable to stop staring at her smile and her content expression in a situation where blaster fire could start shooting from the forest at any moment. It's as if she finds no difference here than being in their Royalty Flat. Her pleasantness had a new meaning now.

"Is that really possible?" he asks, eyes narrow. "How can that really be a source of power?"

"The body wants to be happy," she says. "When it is, it functions the best. Mind, body, and essence."

"Ok," Luke says, not quite sure. "How is it you can have that power _here_ though? When in danger. When killing people. Killing isn't... empathic, or what you said."

"Well, truth is often based on our own point of view. And training of course. But it's easy. Once you see everything as a good experience—as something to learn from—nothing but good comes from everything, all your memories are good, fueling more of it."

Luke's eyes narrow, thinking. _A certain point of view._ He remembers the sting of Ben's excuse for lying to him about his father. He opens his mouth again, but she knows his question.

"With killing, for example, I may be making one person suffer, but from a broader, long-term point of view, I know I'm making many more safe by ridding them of his torment."

Luke relaxes some, beginning to understand.

"And," her voice wavers, then her tone gradually fades and dies, but it returns to a frail optimism, "if the people you love die, it's a chance to love someone new, to learn something new from others that you wouldn't have before."

Luke's lower eyelids pinch up, half confused, half disturbed. _Her whole planet was destroyed, everyone she loved, like Leia—_

—In the lead, Han freezes and shoots his arm out to hold them back. They halt and he hoarsely speaks just above a whisper, "There. Up ahead, and allll up the hill."

They peek out of thick brush to see a rocky hill filled with huts and buildings and tan specks of people young and not so young, and, stormtroopers, wandering aimlessly. On the top of the hill, on one side: the mine. On the other side: a building on the cliff edge overseeing the South East battleground where the Rebels can't get through.

Han's already got his holomap out. He starts counting meters on the map in his head while Luke focuses his essence on his surroundings and Terigo counts the stormtroopers, also in her head. Her attention flicks to Han for a second, "Shh, I'm trying to count too."

Han's attention does a slow double-take, "W... What? I'm counting inside my hea—oh. Stop pe—"

"40 troops. 20 on each side," she says, then looks to Han, "Thanks for stopping."

Han's face turns sour and waits for her to react to it, but she ignores it. He says, "Can't, you, turn, that, _off?_ "

"I... I can, but it takes effort. It's automatic, because we're supposed to connect to people, or at least _we_ do, or, did. It feels weird if I don't, like avoiding eye-contact when you talk to someone, or holding your breath."

"I don't care about all that, I just don't want you inside my head all the time."

Luke, reluctant to contradict Han, says, "Actually Han... I think it would help with missions, especially when trying to be quiet. We wouldn't have to explain everything to all people on the team." Luke kept his voice unassuming, knowing it was sometimes better to let Han make decisions at times like this. He _was_ 10 years older, and who knew how many more years experienced in battle.

Han nearly gripes, but has grown old enough now to be over some of his ego, not that he would let this one go without a grimace, " _Fine_. But only on missions," giving her a hard eye. But he couldn't tell if she agreed by her default smile. "As I was saying," holding up the map and pointing to it, "so this is where we go around to the back side, see. We can get there by nightfall and sneak in tomorrow morning."

"But..." Terigo says. Her fiery excitement returns full throttle, "We can kill them all, here. Now."

Even Chewbacca made a doubtful scoff.

"Are you kidding me!" Han whispers loudly.

"We should stick to the plan," Luke says with calm authority.

"But we can take them," Terigo says, looking at Luke, "you and I. You can fight. Right? There's only 20 on each side." Pointing to Luke then herself: "20 20."

Luke's pauses in thought. He's not sure he can, but his ego won't let him say no. I'm a Jedi. If she can, I can too. Han looks to Luke for support but after seeing the dilemma on Luke's face, his frustration tilts his head forward to warn _'you better not'_.

She speaks to Luke before Han interferes, "Oh come on, don't let fear get to you," bumping Luke. "They're far away, laser deflection will kill most of them," and flashes him a confident supportive smile.

Han says, "You say _fear_ , I say _sanity_." He warns, "Luke..."

With Chewbacca remaining silent, Luke knows it's up to him to break the tie. He wants to show them how he's grown over the years, but he doesn't want to be wrong again, to have his friends tortured again, to lose the other hand. He asks her, "So you're not afr—... concerned, about being wrong? Aren't you... concerned... about dying?"

"No," she speaks with a warm softness of all things right with the world, "Death would be welcomed. I would see my brother again."

Luke's eyes mix with sorrow and grave concern, concern for her sanity, though her eyes were perfectly sane and thoughtful. He asks, "You're not even afraid of the pain?

"No. Any pain would be worth it."

Han has had enough, so he looks back to his map.

"Or being caught and tortured instead," Luke says.

"...Oh..." she realizes. "You _have_ , haven't you,—"

Han turns his head to Terigo, "Y—"

"—by the Emperor..." she says.

Han blinks, _She meant Luke?_ He looks to him, and things become clearer. Luke averts his eyes from Han, realizing he's realized what darkness he's endured. Embarrassment begins brushing Luke in increasing quick waves: _I'm not weak—I faced torture without fear, but Han doesn't know that, I'm just a kid to him still, I have to prove I can take the heat._

"Fine," Luke says, determined. He doesn't take his eyes from the enemies, "We can do this Han. You haven't seen me fight recently. I've honed my skills in the last year of solitary missions. Now I'll show you a true Jedi." _Show you both._ "Fear of death is the first thing that Jedi overcome."

He eyes Terigo, expecting her to smile, but her smile fades and she looks away, as if she was disappointed in something about Luke again. Han stood stiff, almost wide-eyed.

Luke takes the lead—and command, turning his head halfway towards Han and Chewbacca, eyes closed, readying his essence, "The Colonel said their test-assaults revealed the stormtrooper's strategy. They attack in groups of four. They're spread along the hill so that we can take each group out before the next one hits. We'll have 30 minutes to shut off the elevators before the troops from the bottom of the cliff reach the top as backup. We can start as we did at Pargin's Gulf, when I drop my head."

Chewbacca gets ready but looks to Han who is standing stiff and unsure, until he groans. " _Fine._ I'll cover Luke. Chewie, cover her." Through his tension, he manages to force a smirk to peek out just enough, "But don't feel like you have to protect her at all. Apparently she's invincible."

Terigo smirks back at Han, happy his sassy confidence has returned.

To that, Han says, "Hey, suicide should come quick and easy sweetheart." And with a bitter smile, "Have _fun._ "

Chewbacca stands behind Terigo, waiting for her to advance. She looks to Luke, as does Han standing behind him. Luke stands still, facing the enemies, his eyes having remained closed the whole time. He was calming himself, allowing his body to become looser, becoming serene, becoming one with the crevices of the landscape, surveying his hillside. His eyes were now useless compared to the Force.

He walks forward, and Terigo begins walking at the same calm pace. They move apart one-hundred feet to approach the base of each of their hillsides and Han & Chewbacca take cover, and take aim. Stormtroopers call out, and many more spread the word up the hill. Luke and Terigo halt, waiting for the enemy to make a move.

The closest group on each side eases closer to Luke and Terigo, blasters raised.

And closer...

Luke raises his hands as if surrendering to the troops.

And closer...

Then he drops his head—

 _—Pzewww bzewww_ —blaster fire hits a stormtrooper on each side from Han and Chewbacca. Luke's lightsaber flies from hip to hand. Shots fire from stormtrooper blasters.

 _Pssshhhew, pssshhhew,_ green lightsaber unsheathes, then yellow, Luke's slices down, Terigo's slices up, deflecting shots.

More calling, panicked and angry, _roaring_. Young children scream. And footsteps of a scattered stampede: slaves heading indoors, troops heading downhill.

While the first deflected shots both hit dirt, the next ones do not. Han and Chewbacca each hit a third enemy. Sabers each deflect onto a fourth.

First wave down. Luke opens his eyes for a moment and glances at Terigo from the corner of his eyes. She does the same and thinks about smirking.

All four take a deep breath as they await the next group. Luke starts calming his stirred essence, but enemy shots start flying the second he finishes. These troops keep their distance, seeing the four fresh bodies, so Han and Chewbacca are unable to hit close enough to help. Luke and Terigo begin deflecting and dodging four frantic shooters alone.

Luke's movements are crisp and swift. Cool. Clean with direct intent. No unnecessary movements. Linear.

Terigo's are smooth and fluid. Heated. Wide with playful bounce. Moving as much as she can. Circular.

Terigo finishes her enemies only a moment before Luke. She might have been quicker if she wasn't having so much fun. Once Luke finishes his, he notices her speed and whim, and it annoys him a little. While his _acute_ composure had made it look easy, her _carefree_ composure had made it look _fun_.

 _She doesn't appear to be showing off, but_ —He closes his eyes to calm his stirred essence, but blaster fire starts again. Too soon.

The third wave. Good thing they were only getting warmed up.

With Luke's unquelled essence heat, he displays a little more vigor than before, a little fiery, but deflecting in this wave is no more difficult than previously, if not easier. When he gets down to one enemy, he starts merely deflecting without aiming it back so he can glance over at Terigo's efforts, to notice more about her style. She holds her nightstick-shaped lightsaber hilt by the side-handle and the rest pivots from it, swinging it around in smooth circular motions, whipping away blaster fire. She triggers the locking button on the handle to stop or change spin-direction at times, so with her timing the jerk of each swing just right, it causes the blade's momentum to whip around much quicker than it could have if swung when locked in place—a blur, an onslaught of yellow light. And the way she carries herself, it's clear she feels invincible.

Even though Luke took longer by spending time to watch her, he finishes his enemies off before she does, as if she was just playing around.

The fourth wave had caught up to the third just as the last one fell, leaving no time for Luke to calm himself. And this time, his group had a Lieutenant. The group begins shooting at the third wave's location, but as soon as one gets hit by deflection, the Lieutenant orders them to hold fire. He also speaks over their comlink to four men approaching Terigo, and they begin to spread out and take cover. They try to surround both Luke and Terigo, and that's when they see the fifth wave isn't far behind.

Terigo bolts after the one nearest her—full-speed—and he tries to backup and hold fire, screaming, " _Shoot now, SHOOT NOW!_ " They aim at her back but her lightsaber pivots to whip behind her and stop an inch before her spine.

Luke had thrown away his serenity to do the near same, bolting after his nearest foe but making a wide arc around to avoid being hit in the back, doing a flip clear over a truck with the Force to keep running. Terigo slices down her first target of wave four, but now two from wave five join, as well as four more on Luke's side. The troops spread out as much as they can, trying to surround them. Luke and Terigo race after their targets one at a time, and with much of it uphill, it takes longer. Han and Chewbacca move up, losing cover, but receiving no fire, not with it all going towards two wild Jedi.

Terigo's smile becomes more solid with the seriousness of the challenge, and Luke's serenity becomes more vigorous with determination. And more vigorous still. After each deflect and each slice through an enemy, Luke's essence grows hotter with adrenaline, animating him further, further from his linear efficient movements, further into a fury, with a hint of exhilaration, much like the raid on Jaba the Hut. He was sliding towards anger, towards Darkness.

In slicing down his last foe, he makes a triumphant, feverous shout to strengthen his swing, sending the stormtrooper's helmet flying. The shout grabs Terigo's attention away from chasing down her last foe. She halts and stares directly at Luke's eyes, watching him stand upright and lower his saber as he breathes heavily. And his hard eyes glare back at her.

Her foe hides to catch his breath, so she watches Luke as her eyes slowly grow more and more narrow. She stares, as if waiting for him to do something. But he mistakes her look for jealously over finishing after he did. His hint of a smirk shows on a face that says _'I win, you showoff. Who's the ascended one now?'_

Then a child's arms fling around his legs. Luke blinks. Another hugs him gently around the torso and he sheaths his lightsaber but can't attach it with the child in the way. More children cheer and call to others. They come to touch him with hands and tears and laughter. Luke absorbs it like water to the fire. The heat in him fades, calming him, returning him to serenity and the warmth of joy. And he straightens his hair while his smile grows.

He goes to itch his forearm and accidentally drops his lightsaber, it turning off. A child snatches it up, carefully, and hands him his lightsaber using only his fingertips to hold it. Luke flexes his hand before grabbing it.

He looks to Terigo, wondering what she thinks of the children. Her eyes are still glued on him, but now she's glaring, and her jaw locks tight.

Her last foe had unhidden himself and was now charging with downhill momentum towards her back, his blaster raised to shoot once he's close enough that she can't deflect. At the last split-second, she spins around on one foot to dodge his shot and slice his rifle in half from his side as his momentum continues to propel him towards where she stood, getting tripped by the foot she pivoted on. She lets him scramble to his knees but she kicks him down hard to get him on his back. As his feet push him towards a nearby gun and he holds out his hand to beg for mercy, she looks straight into Luke's eyes for a good moment and, all throughout her body, it looks like an intense rage is forming.

Luke's widening eyes watch with the children as her clenching grip of her saber thrusts the blade to point diagonally left at the ground. With the stormtrooper's fingers on the nearby gun, she storms forward to him, steps into the widest stance, raises her blade back left as far as it will go, and with all her strength and momentum and a terrible _shout_ , she swings her blade as far right as she can, slicing off the stormtrooper's raised hand, then swings it left with another _shout_ to cut off his head.

Luke's entire body stiffens and his eyes widen as much as they can on such a stiff face. Her lightsaber was now already sheathed and she clicks it onto her side. Her eyes close and her head rises to the sky as she takes a deep breath. Luke thinks he sees her lips move until mere seconds go by and her head pops back down with open eyes and a bright smile. A pure lightness had returned nearly as clean and clear as when she started the mission.

 _That was like when she conjured lightning during the interrogation..._

She gives him a quick friendly look that says, ' _that's how it's done_ ' and picks up the severed hand.

And in her next words, there is no sarcasm, no hatred, no pride, no jealousy, no negative emotion of any kind. She says, "Forgetting something...?"

...and throws the hand before his feet.

The children had dodged it and shrieked and they all stare at it with Luke, all in shock. Stricken. With her smile of complex emotions, that look and those words could have had so many meanings, but Luke decided on only a few when he realizes:

...it's a _right_ hand.

The oldest kid snatches it up, thrusts it above him with his whole body, and shouts with victory. The children all join in like monkeys to jump or cheer or shout or chase him to spit on the hand. He runs off and most the children follow, especially when Han and Chewbacca approach Luke. The three all take one last wide-eyed glance at Terigo—whose attention was up the hill—before returning their thoughts back to the mission.

Han says, "Let's take that truck up to the top."

At the top of the hill, alongside the cliff edge, they jump off the truck and Han looks over at white splotches in an elevator rising to their location. "Three minutes I'd guess, let's move!"

They rush inside a two-story building encasing the elevator.

In the wide cargo room, they search the elevator area, but find nothing but basic controls.

"These won't work," Luke says.

"Maybe upstairs?" Han says.

"Wait, I sense someone hot," Terigo says.

Luke starts easing his essence to be more in-tune to possible threats. Han raises his blaster and looks to Luke, "What does that mean?" but receives no answer with Luke concentrating.

Terigo replies instead, "I think there might be more stormtroopers around. I think my last group only had two instead of four."

Luke commands, "Spread your essence on the right side of us to find him while you follow. I'll do the same on our left while Han and Chewie keep a lookout. Let's _go_."

They climb the stairs with their weapons armed for sudden surprises, and head down a long hallway towards the elevator.

"Wait," Luke warns, "there's two cold people up ahead."

"They're children," Terigo says.

The group enters the room with weapons ready. Luke's quick Force-scan of the room reveals the same as Han and Chewbacca's visual scan: only two strong teenagers looking down the fenced shaft of the elevator. Their grip on two heavy iron rods tightens with fear and a will to attack, so they dart behind a hiding spot next to the elevator door. But they see the lightsabers at the last second and their fear disappears.

"Whoa you're the Jedi!" the oldest says with exhilaration.

The other nearly yells, "Stormtroopers are coming up," pointing down the shaft. The noise of a rising elevator starts to fill the room, so he raises his voice, "We were going to surprise 'em and get 'em," demonstrating a whack with their rods, "but there's too many."

Han finds the control box but—

The oldest teen says, "The controls are locked,—"

—Han had darted out of the way as Luke storms over—

"—we can't—"

 _Green-zwoom._ Luke slices the box open, sheathes his saber, and clicks it to his belt, all in one split-second motion.

"WHOA!" both the teens say. "That was AWESOME."

Luke had opened the box and places his hand on the emergency-stop handle. He catches a glimpse of the beaming teens and can't help but smile at the delight his skill gave them. He smirks and yanks the handle down—

—His hand yanks off from the handle, as if he lost his grip.

The whole room turns their heads, and he glances back, embarrassed, but they all return their gaze to the elevator as the top of it comes into view.

Luke grabs the handle again with as firm and aware grip as he can and yanks it down, causing himself to almost topple due to the thing being easy to move.

The elevator stops. Several stormtroopers peek through the fence, their eyes just a hair above the floor. They see drawn weapons and a yellow lightsaber and frantically try to get their blasters through the two fences of the elevator and outer cage. They yell at each other, pushing each other aside, but it's no use. Everyone outside the elevator stands still, gawking, their anxiety relaxing into scoffs. So the troops try to aim their blasters in a way that it won't ricochet back. No way, Jose.

Chewbacca gives a taunting gargle and what is clearly a deep chuckle. The lieutenant stormtrooper bangs once on the elevator, defeated.

Luke grabs an adjacent handle, tightly, then smirks at the troops, and yanks down.

Heavy gears above the elevator clank and the lieutenant—with all the bloodlust of preparing to kill, with all the irritation of a grating elevator in his ears the whole climb, and with all the boredom of a thirty minute elevator ride—yells: "Oh COME ON!"

And back down they go.

Han waves, smiling, " _See ya suckers!_ "

Terigo's head wrenches to look behind them and says quietly, "I sense someone, getting closer."

They all turn their heads, but hear nothing. Luke closes his eyes for two seconds, "He's hot. Kids, stay back and hide," and ignites his lightsaber.

The group prepares their weapons and tense up when they hear stealthy footsteps of someone in armor. A flash of red crosses the hall outside the room. Han puts his back to the doorframe, while Luke follows Terigo as she moves forward in steady even steps... closer... and closer.

Han says, "He's either a desperate coward or the smartest of them. Either way, don't underestimate him."

 _Pzewww_ —bright red shots start firing and Terigo deflects. The blaster had peeked out from around a wall corner and then disappeared behind it. She trots forward a few steps to the crossroads of a perpendicular hallway and—

 _Pzewww_ —she's nearly hit by a shot from the right hallway—then the front. She dodges frontal fire by stepping into the right hall towards the other fire. Luke instinctively deflects the frontal fire in her place just before the right hall. They both deflect more shots before Han and Chewbacca peek out to return fire to the front. They hear an alarmed yelp from the right-hall as if the shooter realized who he was dealing with, and his footsteps scramble away into the depths of the building. Terigo steps to follow but sees Chewbacca dart across the hall in front of her. He had gone around through another door and yells something.

"Chewbacca says he's got that one," Terigo says to the others. From the edge of the right hall, she watches Luke deflect for a bit, noticing his firm concentration. As he moves closer to the shooter, next to Terigo, she says, "Move up more, I'm going to cross the hall so I can maybe find a way around."

Luke opens his mouth to speak and steps forward—and suddenly takes a step back. The shooter had just stepped out and now there were two pairs of shots, then four, then—Luke darts into Terigo and Han stops shooting.

"His shield reflects shots!" Luke announces. "Be careful!"

"A Perk?" she says.

They hear fast footsteps of the shooter coming close, so Luke darts out with an idea. The shooter starts backing up and keeps shooting, apparently with two blasters, one in each hand as part of the shield's handles. Luke deflects fire but the shots he deflects bounce back off the shield, creating twice as much fire in split seconds at each shot. He begins executing his idea: he deflects the shots into the wall instead, dealing with only two at a time. He doesn't swing his blade, but instead holds it still and rotates it at each shot so that both shots hit either end of the blade at the same time. Every few shots, he tries hitting the tiny blaster-hole with the deflected shots, but it's too tedious to miss and deal with four shots.

It's then that Terigo notices a look of insecure pride in Luke, seeing his ego won't let him lose. So he begins moving forward, further and further towards an unmoving red-marked captain behind his translucent red shield. But when he's only ten feet away, the shots start multiplying again due to being too close to avoid the shield. "I can't get close enough to swing!" _Can't get close enough to swing!_

Han yells, "Stay there, I'm going around," and bolts out, taking the left hall just behind Luke. Terigo follows Han full-speed.

The captain starts jogging back with the shield still aimed at Luke and turns the left corner. Luke follows while deflecting, but can't get around the corner without being too close. One of the captain's blasters clicks and he removes it to aim behind him down the left hall while his shielded blaster still shoots blindly at Luke. Han and Terigo turn right, but as they approach the next right, she yells "Wait!"

Luke hears her yelp in pain, Han groan " _Damn_ ," and their bodies shuffling around.

Luke had moved up to swing but the shooter starts running towards Han and Terigo, still shooting blindly at Luke. Luke's near-panic turns his head for another option—and yes!—he darts into the room next to the shooter, runs alongside the same wall, Force-leaps over boxes, and slices through the wall's corner with all his strength.

Through the gash in the wooden wall, Luke sees the red shield fall in two pieces with two pieces of the shooter.

"What?" Han asks for clarification.

Luke replies, "I didn't say—" but realizes he was talking to Terigo. She was mumbling, sentences.

Luke runs around and sees Han's hands on her to help. He sees her saber hilt on the ground and her kneeling, holding her arm, her eyes tightly shut, bending over a hole in her wrist, fiercely smiling. _Smiling_.

"—how you wear—how you read everyone's name b—Our essence was warmest then and—Chinoon's warmth was nothing—Father always loved—gave so much—"

Luke's breath chokes still as Han's already had. The hole was _shrinking_. Han lifts his hands off her slowly and he backs away. And was she choking on the pain, or _laughing_? Or both?

"—He was only fifty because of—Your smile—we are one. Father will always love me..." Her words fade to a whisper as her wrist-skin closes completely... She rotates her hand and shakes her whole forearm, then takes a deep breath and smiles at Luke as if it never happened.

As Luke's mouth stays gaped open, her smile turns disappointed, with no interest in eye-contact again. As they all stand up, she says, "Sorry for the delay, I had to use my hand to block or I might have cut Han's arm off." She only glances at the shooter as she steps over him to grab her lightsaber, and her attention focuses down the hall in Chewbacca's direction.

Luke remains speechless, and just follows her, trying to piece together questions. Han's interest turns largely on the Perk shield, picking it up while he walks with them. After determining it's useless to salvage, he tosses it and says loud enough for both to hear, "Does she just get happy instead of getting mad? That sounds like the Imperials to me. The definition of insanity."

Luke turns his head towards him, "Han, she just saved your life."

"She didn't have to you know. You Jedi can deflect lasers. That was masochistic. Crazy Luke."

Terigo seems to know which way to go, venturing deeper into the building. " _We're almost there_ ," she calls down the hall. " _Ours is dead_."

They find Chewbacca holding the stormtrooper hostage, one with a lieutenant's colored shoulder pauldron. Chewbacca lowers his blaster some, knowing the guy couldn't even surprise-attack two Jedi. He barks several words, motioning to the stormtrooper.

Han replies, "I don't know. If it were my vote, I'd say execute him, here and now. But Leia would imprison him, as if that ever does any good."

Terigo says, sarcastic yet half-serious, "Sure it does. Most prisoners can work their way up to work-force slaves. Cheap labor. There's a beneficial side to everything you know."

"Anyways," groans Han, "a prisoner would present a hassle. They don't take criminals into slavery at poorly funded places like this, just immediate execution, so we would have to transport him ourselves. You two figure out what you want to do with him, as long as you don't release him into the wild. Chewie and I are going to find the comm station and inform South East. We'll be camping here, work on that too. And if you can find food better than those rations they sent us off with." He mumbles his next words and trails off as he and Chewbacca walk out, "(What am I talking about, of course there's not. Slaves get fed dirt...)"

Luke only gazes through the stormtrooper. All his thoughts were still elsewhere. Terigo looks at the stormtrooper holding his arms up against a wall. She says, smirking, "You can put your arms down for now. They'll just fall from numbness anyways."

Confused, he reluctantly lowers them, and stands with a little more confidence for two reasons in regards to these people being unlike his cruel commanders: one, it's a nice break, and two, they're _weak_ with kindness and therefore may present an opportunity to take advantage of. His fear begins to calm as the two chat.

Luke continues to face the stormtrooper, without really looking at him, "I'm going to get straight to the point. Can you heal my hand?" and his eyes stay on thoughts.

Terigo looks even further away from him.

"And have you really known you could this whole time and never—"

"I can," she says, clearly and evenly, "but I won't."

He pauses to let her explain why, but she says nothing. She just concentrates on the stormtrooper by thinking about him or looking into him. Luke says, "You already know what I'm going to ask, so why are you refusing to answer?" He looks to her, but thankfully he had reduced his scowl by remembering manners. He _was_ asking for a favor, despite the apparent ease. He sees her stillness and blankness, and feels her warmth hide and fade under a thick cool shell. _This is definitely a mask. What—_

She says, "It wouldn't do you any good if I did—"

" _What?_ Of course it would, it doesn't behave as well as a real hand, and—"

She scoffs. He stops, having felt a hot spark among this statue of an essence. Her mask allows a dry smile as she says, "All Force users can heal if they ascend high enough. Your hand would give you proper motivation, a chance to learn something."

Luke looks at his hand and groans silently, "How can I learn something if I don't—You had a master, in your Light Side. I don't. I can't just—"

"In the Light, The Light's Blaze, true mastery comes from self-discovery. Only a mind that can develop what it takes to overcome obstacles _alone_ can become the most capable mind. (Sacrifus leaped through the ranks for what he sacrificed to change in himself, but anyways.)"

 _What, is she admiring a Sith Lord now?_ "That doesn't answer my question." He feels another hot spark. "And I felt that. What are you hiding?"

With a hard turn of only her eyes, she gives him a brief glance with just a millimeter of an angry smile. Then she looks back at the stormtrooper and still speaks evenly, with only the faintest dips of emotion. "Forgetting something?"

" _What?_ What does—"

"You're forgetting how you lost your hand. You're trying to take the impulsive, easy way out. You're whining for results _now_ without working for it. It sickens me that you have a chance to grow and test your own healing, without causing yourself pain by cutting off a finger yourself, or three," holding up her last three, clearly implying she has, "but you're throwing the chance away."

Luke's eyes narrow, but his essence becomes less heated than it would have if he were insulted, because why would he be. He knows she's wrong. "And what about facing my father, Vader— _and_ the Emperor— _at_ the same time—do you think is taking the easy way out—that I haven't worked hard for it. What could that _possibly_ have to do with how I was when I lost my hand." He doesn't look away. Like hell. He's right, and he'll challenge her to dispute the pains he faced head-on.

So she looks straight at him. He almost flinches at such an emotionless confident face staring at him so stiff and unwavering. But he strengthens himself and says, " _I_ , am a _Jedi_."

The stormtrooper shifts his weight, not just intimidated by the infamous killer, but also from an obvious annoyance for their blabbering, and leans against the wall.

Terigo says, "You only think you're strong because this is the strongest you've ever been. You only think you've trained a lot because this is the most you've ever trained. If your father hadn't saved you, you'd be dead. And you lost your hand for the same reason you nearly died." Her eyelids blink, only mechanically, to wet her drying eyes.

Luke pauses, his rage was growing while he comes up with the same reasons—or excuses—that he's told himself every day since then. _But I succeeded in saving my father's soul, and I resisted even the Emperor himself._ He takes a large breath and opens his mouth to reply, but she continues.

"Proof is that you haven't executed _him_ yet," looking to the stormtrooper.

The stormtrooper's wandering head flicks to attention. Luke's expression changes for a moment with his line of thought and his mouth moves again to speak. But Terigo puts on a lecturing smile. She seems to decide to have some fun with this lecture, being whimsically exaggerated as if in a theater performance, but with hidden, bitter wry. Luke would be able to feel the frequent tiny sparks among her now warm essence—if he wasn't going to be spoken to with such dynamics. He wouldn't notice that the sparks came with the dynamics, as if the grand gestures were caused by grand anger. Anger hidden with gratification.

"Look at this enemy here," presenting the stormtrooper with a broad sweep of her open palm. "When he's far away, in that blank face of a helmet..." she had moved closer to him and tilts her head onto the stormtrooper's shoulder for her next line, "barely seems human, does he. It's easy to kill hundreds this way, isn't it," thumping the stormtrooper's head to mock compassionate petting.

She almost grabs Luke's arm and instead just waves him over. Even though Luke had had enough of her, her smile is so inviting and warm... so he bitterly drags himself closer. She has him stand even closer, right in front of the stormtrooper. She continues with a whisper, "(But if you stand this close, and watch him for a bit...)" she pauses, looking motionlessly at the stormtrooper to allow Luke to focus on him without distraction. "(...He sways idly... breathing... He shifts his weight... bored and muscles fatigued... He turns his head—and then back—feeling awkward with such closeness, then back to guard his ego... He's so very human...)" Then to break the silence, she snatches hold of the stormtrooper's shoulders and jerks him at Luke, " _Look out, he might kill you_ ," with an exuberant smile as if she was tickling them, and almost laughing.

Luke takes a step back from the invasion of personal space, and the stormtrooper thrusts her hands off him with his shoulders, but she doesn't seem to notice. She prevents Luke from stepping further back by moving on. She yanks off the stormtrooper's helmet, revealing his parched face. She says, "Look. He's afraid—ah now angry. Human," wrapping her arm around the man like a friend. He considers sluffing-off her arm again, but his jaw tightens and he looks to Luke. Terigo looks back and forth as she continues, "Despite his unwelcoming grimace, he no longer seems like an enemy, does he? Now he looks like a man. One that once had children. They're slaves of the Empire now, yet he still serves." She speaks to the man in armor and her arm slides off his shoulders, "You _too_ know sacrifice, to grow stronger."

She continues to speak to the man, but with a more normal casual tone, "If I put this helmet back on, one of these kids will shoot you, easily. But if I leave it off, they probably won't. One might not even throw rotten food at you because you could look like one of their fathers. We would arrest you and send you to the Republic labor-system, where you could have a simple life among the paid slaves of the Republic rather than a torturous servitude at the Empire." She motions to his helmet and her bitter-sweetness comes back, "So which would you like? On or off?"

Both Luke and the man stare at her wide eyed, until finally the man speaks, "...Off. I'll take my chances with you people..." giving her a cautious glare, and the same to Luke.

"Ah," she says, as if the man gave himself away. She props herself on him with her elbow on his shoulder and her hand keeping her head up, "Problem is, there's no one else here but Luke and me, and we both felt you would only _use_ our kindness to escape back into the Empire, to use your knowledge of the Jedi to gain power, to kill again... Kindness means killing only in self-defense, but it also means protecting the many over the few. We know now that any enemy spared will pose as a threat to many, even if they were a loving father. The Empire's control is too _invasive_ ," tapping a finger to the man's brain. "That's why the Republic executes many of their captives. As we should do too to relieve their busy efforts, so they can stop more killers, and to protect them by reducing risk of your escape." She stays propped on him and turns her eyes to Luke, "So, what about _you_? On or off?"

Silence. Stillness. Not even a shift of discomfort. Luke just stares at her, disturbed.

She lets her arm slide off, and resumes with more of a serious tone among her sweet scorn. "This shouldn't be a problem for a Jedi, especially according to this one," popping a thumb at the man. Her voice remains very soft and direct, almost cold-cutting, "Death Star Killer, they call you. You killed thousands in one shot, but not this _one man_? Come on. This is impulsive, childish thinking. We can save them _later_ , much later, when their chains have been removed."

She begins a reciting tone: " _As a Jedi, killing someone while staring them in the eyes should cause no more change in emotion than killing an insect. To consider their one life over the many unseen gives-in to youthful impulse._

"Same as thy self: _Understanding of thy_ self," at 'self' she points at Luke's chest, " _must not be_ self _-determined,"_ with another light finger-dab on 'self.' " _A Jedi's understanding of thy self must come from judgment by those that understand._ You know," —she cups her ears to make her hands look like Yoda's ears— "those that aren't _reckless_." Then she continues reciting, " _To consider your point of view over the views of many gives-in to a youthful view._ " She casually drops her hands from her ears.

 _"Growth from youthful point of view:_ it's elementary training in the Light, Luke... _Broad, long-term point of view is ascension. Wisdom comes with a century._ "

Her gaze leaves Luke, permanently again. The man glances between the two of them, thinking _what the hell was all that nonsense, she just went on and on!_ Luke was a flurry of all sorts of everything, unable to move. She touches the man's lieutenant-pauldron as if to remove it, but he slaps it away as if she tried to remove his eye. To this beast-like display of desperation-over-accomplishment, she makes a soft confirmatory "um- _hm_ " and turns. She picks up the stormtrooper's helmet and begins walking out with it in hand. With her back turned, she says, "If you don't execute that murderous human father, here; you're useless in helping destroy the Empire. Useless to me, useless to everyone." Then she was gone.

 _I don't answer to you!—_ was his instinctual reaction, as well as _chastising_ her for being an over-the-top _jerk_. _And she thinks she's more of a Jedi than me!? Just because she's been trained her whole life? Reciting passages from her religion._ But now... concern for defending his ego seemed like a pathetic game.

With her gone, his brooding takes over every part of him. Though it takes a moment to apply what she said to why he lost his hand, her words had rung true. Logical, direct, and hard. He had always wanted the most challenging route, but now... Even though the concept of execution vs. self-defense would have been his main concern, he can't get over the concept of youth vs. wisdom. He ponders how many stormtroopers he's killed, how many heads he's cut off, how much blood he's seen. But if allll their helmets had been off, if he had seen their pained faces roll on the ground... holding pictures of their children... would he have grown less likely to _kill_? Or grown less likely to _care_? Or is _grown_ the right word, and instead _devolved? Descended?_

The man shifts, but stays as still—as non-distracting—as possible to try and size-up Luke. Using only his eyes, he looks around, looking for options, and fakes a casual stretch to look behind him. He sees Luke is none the wiser. "Permission to sit down, sir?" the man—the Imperial armored man—says. He spoke to Luke much in the way he would to his superior officer, but quickly tries to sound at-ease, human, nicer, (weaker) than he was, "My legs are getting tired." His new tone failed for the most part, but Luke was brooding too much to notice. Luke simply glanced and waved a ' _sure, whatever._ '

The man cautiously sits down on a box, and starts taking off the armor on his chest and back. He coolly tosses it far behind him as if he hates it, and it lands in a dark corner. He takes a deep breath, rotates his shoulders, sighs, and fails to make his smile noticeable enough when Luke glances again.

Glancing at the man begins shifting Luke's thoughts back to him. He takes what pieces of decisions he has and stores them in the back of his mind. Then he looks to the man— _the armored man—the enemy_ Luke reiterates to himself. "Let's go," waving for him to follow as Luke reflexively puts his hand on his lightsaber.

"Permission to grab my armor, sir."

"You won't need it where you're going," Luke says, but the man was already bending over to pick it up.

"It's important to me. And maybe your fleet can use it as a disguise." His tone would suggest he's nervous or making empty small talk, if only using a white lie from such nervousness of talking to a Jedi. Luke was used to this, but his essence feels a true lie in the man, and deceit, all over the surface of the mind. The man shuffles with his armor a bit, but he doesn't put them on. He just holds them a little awkward as he approaches Luke to follow. Luke calms himself, settles his stirred essence, closes his eyes, and considers bitter thoughts for just a moment longer. He reluctantly decides what to do and sighs. So he takes a serene breath, gently clasps his hands in front of him, and turns around, allowing the armored enemy to follow behind him, unsupervised.

At their second step, the stormtrooper—unfortunately a man, a human—slowly, quietly, sneaks something black around his armor and— _zwoom_ —Luke's saber cuts through him. The wooden floor thuds with an armored body, plus halves of chest armor and a black blaster rifle from the darkness where the armor was thrown...

.

Luke finds Terigo at the bottom of the stairs in the only sliver of light of the echoing floorspace, but she was otherwise surrounded by darkness. The darkness and his resonating footsteps hide his location, to anyone but a Jedi that is. He walks by without inviting acknowledgement, holding his saber limply at his side. His calm, brooding essence flickers with various temperatures of thoughts. He continues towards the exit and she follows, but before they enter the door's cast square of outer light, she says, "You cheated. Like you did before, and long before then."

The room's hidden vastness had added an amplified resonance to the words.

He stops in darkness before the light. He lifts his gaze from the floor and says, "I need more time. Otherw—"

"You've already—"

"— _Otherwise_... I will fail, again."

She halts before the light as well, next to him. When she had spoken, there was almost an eerie feel to the melody of her bland words when coming from this cavernous darkness. But it was only in that moment. For when she spoke again, her words were lost in the space, as if they were one with the emptiness of the dark. "Never mind. I understand."

Though it was the coldest that her essence had ever felt to Luke, he steps onwards as she stays gently still, frail. Luke had enough to think about, and couldn't really give a damn about her right now and her pretentious ascendance.


	5. CHAPTER 5 -- First Post-Mission

Chapter 5

 **FIRST POST-MISSION**

* * *

IN THE GREY SHADOWS of evening light, Luke sits with his essence void of all emotion. Cross-legged in dusty leaves and serenely postured, he finishes meditating and looks to Terigo approaching him from a campfire seventy feet away. Her lack of expression brightens a hint when she sets down a bowl of stew before him, and she turns to walk away with her eyes only following her soft footsteps. He realizes she hadn't been giving him any eye-contact since the ship or those rare quick moments when she seemed—arrogant? or jealous? or angry? But this instance felt different. Her essence felt on the colder side of tepid, though it becomes its usual warm strength when she looks to the children at the fire.

The fire had yet to make her yellow cowl glow in its light, but it would soon enough after the nearing sunset. When she rejoins the children at the fire's stewpot, her smile glows brighter than any of the children had seen, and they bask in her giggles and undivided attention. As they eat, roughhouse, and tell stories, she and they all make as much physical contact as they possibly can, trying to absorb as much of each other as one could take with them for barren days to come. Children that had no joy but the gruff camaraderie of sweating with each other now indulge in the warm love of a momentary mother and the majestic protection of a serene father watching from afar... And...

...what they see as a playful tall dog. Chewbacca joins Terigo to try to eat while the brattier kids take turns playing with him, and he pretends to scare them in return.

Han joins Luke to eat, sitting next to him at an angle so he can switch between looking at Luke's face and Terigo. When she ignites her saber to show all ages of the children, Han mumbles a half-serious warning to Luke, "Careful with that," nodding his head towards her, "she might kill another one."

"That's why I'm peering into her emotions at every moment. And she's not going to leave my sight... But so far she hasn't had any emotions of what could be examining them—for execution—or any deceitful emotions, or intentions of pacifying them to allow her to... She seems..." Han follows Luke's focused uneasy eyes to her, seeing she seems genuinely happy, how every muscle in her face is alive with motherly bliss. He looks back to Luke and realizes he shouldn't distract him when he has such a dire focus, until Luke glances at Han and says, "Have you seen anything like this, Han?"

Han felt the question was strange, somehow, because he didn't realize this was the first time Luke had asked for advice, on a deep matter. Since the Emperor, Han had noticed Luke preferred to tackle challenges alone, head on. It always seemed to Han that Luke didn't just want to protect everyone, but that he equally thought of himself as more capable now that he was a Jedi. Yet it was still too similar to the arrogance of someone Luke's age for Han to not to be annoyed with it. So Luke asking for advice was indeed strange. Han takes a large bite of his food, hoping Luke will elaborate, but he just stares at Terigo, so Han asks, "What do you mean?"

Luke glances at Han again, "She's not the lighthearted whimsical creature we see. Not _just_ , at least. She tried to convince me to kill that stormtrooper in cold blood."

"Good. But it's called execution ya know," with a parental smirk of a father that's long known the tough choices of the real world. Luke glances at Han again, remembering he _has_ been known to _shoot first._ Then Luke looks back to the woman as Han continues, "He would have done the same to you, or worse— _and_ worse, if he could have." He looks at Terigo and shrugs. Half serious, half sarcastic, "Maybe I'm wrong about her smiling all the time. Maybe she's got chops. I mean she doesn't _look_ insane."

"She's not. But we're _still_ wrong about her. We both are," Luke glances at Han, hoping that saying he's wrong too didn't offend him.

"Well, people are complicated." Han shrugs, conflicted with his own words, "...aannd simple too, in ways. Money, ego, those sorts of thing."

"She's not," meaning not simple. He raises his head most serenely now, to put all his focus into this woman, to meditate and supervise her emotions... and work on reading actual thoughts.

Chewbacca starts wrestling children in the dirt, and Han mockingly groans, "That hairy mutt's going to need a bath after this." Han finishes his food and sees Luke is only half finished. He gives a _cheer-up_ smile and motions to Luke's bowl, almost saying ' _Well don't starve over it_ ,' but stops with his mouth open and just gets up to leave him be...

Once it's dark, Luke goes to drop his bowl off in the gathering bin on the far left of the fire. There, he sees a young teenager and an unhappy boy focused on the chore of gathering dishes, both either too responsible or shy to join the others much. The boy cowers humbly and tries to grab Luke's bowl from behind, trying carefully to do it without Luke noticing, as if the boy would have normally yanked it away if the holder wasn't a Jedi.

Luke notices the boy's hand is delicately placed on it, as if waiting for Luke to let go, so he looks down at him. The boy smiles and wants to shy away, but he knows servitude too well. Luke says, "That's ok, I can take my own."

The teenager says, "Zapa, say please and smile." The boy does so and the teen looks at Luke humbly, "It's the least we can do for our savior, sir."

Luke feels conflicted—now more than ever—with his _arguable_ level of ability vs. _inarguable_ accomplishments. But he had long-learned how others feel bad if they aren't given a chance to show how much they appreciate him or pay him back in some way. So Luke lets go of the bowl and the boy rushes over to the teen, almost whispering, "Tell him, Jip, tell him."

"That's not polite, don't be selfish for attention," the teen says, and he starts stacking dirty dishes in carriable piles.

Luke keeps his eye on Terigo as she helps put out the fire, but he smiles to speak to the boy, "Tell me what, Zapa?"

The boy freezes, flickering between nervousness and feeling special enough to be talked to. He says weakly, "The—"

"Speak up," the teen nudges him away from his leg.

"The man that spoke without his mouth."

It takes a moment for Luke to catch what he said, but he only glances at him when he does, "What?" He looks back to Terigo, thinking it to be a child's nonsense.

"Um, Jip you tell him, you saw him."

" _Men_ aren't afraid to speak up," the teen says with a resentful scold.

The boy seems to get resentful at himself too with something that happened between them recently. His voice caries better now that he's a little irritated, "He killed them all last time. He said don't hurt the plants and, that, so he'll come back."

Luke pulls most of his concentration to the boy now, then to the teen to hear more, so the teen says, "He said if this planet is still green years from now, he'll come back. But it's not like we can stop adults from killing trees, but we can try."

"And," half of Luke's brow rises, "he killed what? Last time?"

"He killed all the Imperials like years ago, when I was eight," the teen says. "I don't remember anything else about that day other than what the caretakers said. The only reason I remember him is because he spoke without moving his mouth." He shrugs and starts carrying a pile of bowls back to the lodge, "Sorry sir but we have lots of dishes to do."

Luke glances between the boys walking off and Terigo, thinking about alien races that speak without their mouth, if that Jedi Master, Terra— _No, his mouth was moving in the hologram_ —and lands on nothing. So his jumble of concerns returns to her—this woman—walking over to him in the half-moon darkness.

She looks as tranquil as the night itself, blending in with the trees, and showing no more interest in him than them. So Luke just says, "I'm going to take you to Han's room so they can keep an eye on you. I won't be back for a while. I'm going to speak with my master."

That put some expression back into her face, popping up an eyebrow. "Oh. How's that?"

"The Force is in all things, but especially living things. With the concentrated essence of trees and plants," Luke feels her emotions change to what would be an eye-roll, "it can allow for a skilled user to connect to the essence of the dead. What."

She tilts her head with a brief eye-contact and speaks in a sweet scorn that's grandly subdued by an evening of laughter, "I know. That's not what I meant," but she instantly looks sorry she put in any sass.

Luke opens his mouth to say something—to either ask or tell-off—but feels her change to regret, then change to thankfulness over something, as if that cut her insensitivity short.

She says, as cool as night, "Well, we'll see. Maybe some kids will hug you."

Luke argues with himself on whether he was ready to discuss anything with her again. But his curiosity's drive to learn—tightly bound with his ego's drive to grow strong— _nearly_ overcomes his ego's drive to _be_ strong. His drive to be strong would have put up a fiery shield against all that defy him. But this time, his curiosity overcomes it, grudgingly. "What's that supposed to mean?" His patience would have broken here if he hadn't been relaxed by half-meditating all evening. He turns to lead with finality, "Don't blame me if you're still jealous about that. I finished first because I've been training every day since I killed the Emperor. I have continued my training on my own—every chance I get—beyond what Yoda taught me, so I have developed my own style of fighting that keeps the body as calm and efficient as possible, to control the Dark Side's influence from the heat of battle. Don't be jealous that you never thought of that, (running around like you were...)" mumbling the last bit because the indecency of using insults left a foul taste in his mouth, even when it's self-defense.

The foot she had started to move had stopped stiff and she stands still. "What you mistook for jealousy was in fact disappointment, and a voluntary flash of rage. I had—"

"Rage?" he scoffs. "Since when—"

Slightly less calm, "—I had—was waiting—for you to calm your essence, it had grown Dark with the adrenaline of battle. But you cheated—or _were_ cheated—like you were cheated when the stormtrooper prompted self-defense. The children hugged you and their empathic warmth calmed your essence rather than your own efforts of control."

Among his own building rage, so many questions were building again, ego vs. curiosity, once again they were one and the same.

She continued over his internal battle, "So I don't see how you'll contact him." That got his attention. She explains, "One must first and foremost be open to the Light—empathic—to feel souls. One must desire to help, must reach out to others. Like when someone's just died, or when you're sacrificing your needs to help those in battle, or when you feel the incredible bond you have with allies after battle. The Dark feels none of those things, anywhere." While Luke realizes these all explain his past after-death interactions with Ben, Yoda, and his father, Terigo digresses a bit, "Sacrifus didn't believe in souls, which made it much easier for him to kill anyone, especially children. Cicatrice apparently does though. Killing a soul is a powerful act to him, fueling his Darkness."

"But you do believe in souls. And you still killed children." It was more of an accusation than a question. Luke was still on the edge of having enough. His tired feet were telling him to move towards a bed.

Terigo's essence becomes icy for a split second, then becomes a steady cool tepid, and her expressions die entirely, "I saved thousands if not millions by going undercover, and will save more, by having developed skills to kill my emotions."

Luke's head tilts an inch to an unspoken _'Oh?'_

"I feel pain, I just control it. I keep it to the Mid, so the Dark doesn't take over. But I do let myself feel real pain, sometimes, voluntarily, to test my resistance to the Dark, to train myself. Like I did in the interrogation and when I cut off that man's hand. Force-sensitive individuals are affected a great deal more by the Force's influence over our emotions, so control must be trained. The sorrow of loss is an inevitable darkness if one does not prepare."

Loss. This hits Luke hard and true. Another cold brooding wave washes over him as he reflects on his losses—his father, his aunt & uncle, Biggs—and especially the Emperor's threats in the attempt to turn him. He reflects further on the continual chance of losing Leia, Han, Chewbacca, everyone. The concern calms the heat of his irritation a bit, allowing his curiosity to prevail over his ego, but with resentful brows, "So your training isn't over?" _If she isn't, then maybe I..._

"My training will never be over, I don't think. As long as there is age, there is something more to learn from it. Even Terra is learning about the galaxy, wherever he is."

"Terra. You think he's still alive?" _I have to ask Yoda about him too, this will be a long night._

"Well, not many of us could leave our planet—nor flee—to prevent the destruction our Visionaries foresaw, from a ray of some kind. But—" and she happened to read something on Luke's mind, "...Oh..."

"It was probably my father. His space station's weapon." He somehow felt responsible, for letting his father destroy planets, as if he could have faced him sooner if he wasn't such a young and stupid farmhand. _I had always felt more in the world, in people, in plants. More than others. But—It was so obvious. Why didn't I realize, why didn't Owen let me train, I could have started sooner—could have protected them—faced my father sooner, stronger. No one had to die._

"...Anyways..." she says. "We, had no life outside our planet, no reason to leave, not in 100 or so years of disconnecting from the galaxy. My brother and I left to stop it, but... Anyways, my father and greatest fathers have said Terra always had a deep interest in the rest of the galaxy. He had only returned home a few times since the Jedi Council was destroyed, but my next great fathers said they could feel him. I'm sure he can keep his intentions hidden from the Sith and the Empire in the same way I could with Sacrifus. He was our brightest."

"You mean staying on the Light Side—or your Light Side I mean—or staying in—on—the Middle Side."

She smiles softly to gently tease, "It's not exactly a _side_ if it's the _middle_ , Luke. It's just called the Middle or the Mid. And the people that use it are called Mids."

The corner of Luke's mouth pulls to a thin half-smile, along with a tired eye-roll. _Information at a cost of being mocked._

Her faint whim disappears into nothingness again, "The Mid is too close to the Dark to avoid being read. No one in my family line uses—used—the Mid. I only use it to prevent from seeping into the Dark. I'll just disconnect my emotions, kill them, like disconnecting from reality a little, whenever I want to..." her voice wavers for a moment "...scream or cry."

Luke's eyes turn sharply to hers, with layers of feeling that harden his brow; concern, confusion, understanding, disbelief, and maybe bitter hope that someone felt the same hidden agony. It causes his words to exit slowly, " _Every time_?" He actually catches her glimpse at him, at his eyes, not once but twice, as if the first time she failed to hold it, as if her head was fighting to face the ground.

Her shoulders answer for her by barely shrugging, devoid of energy, with her attention relishing the yellowness of her cowl.

And silence. Stillness. The sounds of the trees swaying in the open hill air...

An adult caretaker yells at a child as he runs off from the lodge, only to run to the other lodge down the way. Both Luke and Terigo jerk their heads to the noise, but both continue looking in that direction, wondering if they could tolerate looking back at each other, even if to only acknowledge an end to their interaction.

Luke's head sags to brood and he turns towards Han's lodging, "Come on. Let's go."

He takes a step to start moving, but she stands still. Just as Luke stops to turn, she says, "Thank you, for letting me indulge, in the children." Luke stands calmly, waiting for the feeling of ' _Your welcome'_ to break past his frustration, though it won't despite his manners. But she seems to read his desire to be polite in his mind, or assumes it, because she faintly smiles an acknowledgment as if he did reply. She turns to the lodge's windows lit with boys and says, "Someday I want children of my own—two that I will love equally... But I'm not ready yet, I have a lot left to learn… and the world isn't ready yet either..."

It's maybe the one thing Luke agrees with the entire night. But his gaze only lasts a second longer with the thought. He was tired, ready for the night to end. So he just turns and starts walking. She follows, as if a shell of a human.

.

In the center of a clump of trees Luke sits cross-legged, meditating among the sound of forest life. The whirls of carefree wind, the clatter of gravel gusting against rocks, the shhhhh of grass, the chatter of leafy branches.

Had he been wearing grey or dark blue, he could have blended in with the serenity of the blue half-moon light. But his black clothes make him darker than the night itself, and his essence darker still.

 _Damn that woman._ So much on his mind. So much interference. _Clear your mind, of all this nonsense. Of everything. Of every sound. Focus on your breath, the trance of your rhythmic heartbeat._

A breath in through the mouth, a breath out the nose, a yawn constricted by a clenched jaw, clothes rustling with straightening the posture, essence refining, essence calming, essence heating—cooling—racing—calming— _come on! Concentrate, clear your mind! And stop stressing over not being able to concentrate, it's making it worse_.

And the wind blows, the grass sways, the essence of the planet continues to remain lively concentrated, while Luke remains no more part of it than a black shadow on the lifeless rocks.

His hands slowly curl in, tighter and tighter, into fists, then slowly uncurl again into open palms. His eyes open of their own accord, defeated, seeing no reason to stay closed. And his eyes look inward towards despair and hatred.

His breathing stays slow and rhythmic. But, eventually, he sees his palms and brings them to his face to prop up his tired head.

.

In the sitting room of the lodge, Luke reclines to think—brooding serenely rather than heated for once—staring at the fireplace's dying flames as noises of the lodge disappear from washrooms and bedrooms. Han's familiar footsteps pass by the hall and stop, but Luke remains motionless.

Han sees Luke isn't meditating, and that there's no floating objects, meaning he's brooding. He hates it when Luke broods, it worries him. So he tests the waters, "You know... your Jedi—" he jiggle-waves a hand at Luke, "—whatever you call this—Jedi Mood—makes a lot more sense now."

Luke...

...doesn't even shift... His eyes just blink as eyes occasionally do. So Han gets the hint, "Well, good ni—"

"How so?" coolly grumbling, without moving. Then he slowly moves only his gaze to make eye-contact with Han from the corner of his eye, then looks back to the fireplace.

Han shifts, "That Emperor thing," his head motioning to the past. Sensing Luke's unease, or expecting it, Han adds some lighthearted whim, "It's _fine_ , it toughens you up. It's good for you."

This was one of Luke's last concerns, and now this too gets jumbled on the surface of his mind. But the way Han had put it made it sound like it was a broader topic than just his trial with the Emperor, so Luke lets him continue. He shifts his head to Han with occasional eye-contact, more receptive but not quite sure, maintaining his serenity.

Han continues, "What, you think torturing me in Cloud City was the first time?" Luke's guilt wrenches his eyes to Han's—then back—and causes him to shift uncomfortably. _That was my fault_. But Han continues without noticing Luke's guilt, "Ahh come on. Baby bug bites is all that was. Skin toughener! Girls soften with lotion; we use pummeling," he gives a no-big-deal shrug.

Han sees Luke's angst now, and his tone actually turns fatherly, "You're doing all right, Luke. That was _some_ fightin' you did back there, like _nothing_ I've ever seen... Just keep it up." And with heavy good-natured sarcasm, and very intentional eye-contact, "A few more beatings and you'll be _fine_..." and Luke turns his gaze to see why Han's eye-contact is so d—"...Jedi."

With the last word in, Han leaves with a good-bye smirk.

Luke stares at Han's void... _Just... It just_... Even though this use of 'Jedi' didn't sound like a compliment; for the first time, the nickname didn't sound condescending. But for the first time, he almost felt 'kid' fit...

Whether this Terigo woman was right or wrong, whether her Light Side was something to ascend to or descend into, everything was too tossed around in his mind to let anything go. But if anything, he could count on Han. Han's words always felt true, direct, and hard—just the way Luke liked it, when they weren't aimed at him that is... But this time... _I'm sorry Han._ He could accept that Han was right. He did have a ways to go.

 _A long ways..._

The fire dwindles to embers quicker than normal, leaving Luke barely visible in the room's orange darkness. Weariness sends his eyes adrift. And the embers... burn hotter... fade cooler... fluctuate, with Luke's hidden essence whirling through the room...


	6. CHAPTER 6 -- Day Of Training

Chapter 6

 **DAY OF TRAINING**

* * *

THE CHILDREN ENDURE REPRIMANDS from their supervisors, reprimands that stop the instant they see who the children are running to. The small ones surround Luke and his group as they walk towards the elevator building. Han grumbles from almost tripping over one, but Luke doesn't mind them. He touches the heads of the small ones as a loving father would and waves goodbye to the teens & supervisors waving from afar.

With Terigo walking in front of Luke, moving just as slow, surrounded just as much, he feels thankful to have such numerous and uplifting reasons to avoid looking at the woman. The teens get back to work immediately as the four enter the building, but the small ones wave at Terigo as she keeps her attention on them. Her attention stays on them long after they're in the elevator, fiddling with a leafy twig between her fingers. Her mind eventually wanders to the twig to think of memories, allowing it all to distract her from looking at Luke standing right across from her. Luke closes his eyes to meditate to avoid seeing her too, using the jarring noise of the freight elevator as practice for strengthening meditation focus.

.

Entering the Millennium Falcon, Luke and Han board first while Chewbacca and Terigo mosey well behind, each pair chatting with the other.

Luke replies, "And I thought _I_ was the one up late."

Han says, "Well you know how I like first dibs on valuable secrets. And this one's hot. I sent word late last night on where I'd be going. It will get to the General soon enough, then Leia. Told them you might come along but I wanted to run it by you first."

"Go on." They both sit in the cockpit and keep the door open, listening for the other two.

"The planet has been uninhabitable until just recently. Been that way for thousands of years apparently. We're talkin' volcanoes, acid rain, the works. But they found loads of iron ore and a bunch of other age-old junk, so now everyone's fighting to get a piece. I didn't think you'd be interested except Lando mentioned the Imperials already have a base and are sending their newest technology, and that some Sith Lord is funding it directly."

"Hmm..." Luke says. "Our forces won't be able to get in there soon enough if a Sith Lord is _that_ interested in it."

"I'll be heading there immediately but I can still drop you off if you're not interested. But there's a small group of Rebels scattered around the planet and then various neutrals, so I'm sure they're more than willing to accommodate for" —laying some sass— "Jedi Hero Luke Skywalker." When Luke rolls his eyes, Han realizes too late that this particular moment was not the best time to mock civilian's fascination with a Jedi. It was only by old habit, out of cynicism for pedestrian minds, not out of disrespect for Jedi skills, not anymore at least. Now, after seeing two Jedi take down twenty stormtroopers like that, he began to doubt his own skepticism of civilian interests.

Luke says, "I'm not so sure. If the Imperials are growing faster than others, they may find that siding with us is dangerous."

"Well—"

"But I'm in," Luke says with a determined, distracted look in his eye. Anything to take his mind off the recent mental chaos.

Han perks up, almost afraid Luke wasn't going to bite at adventure like he does. "Well, we'll see how things are. I can sift through the natives for info, but..."

"Yeah, we'll be on our own completely this time. No test assaults, no one to scout the enemy total. We could be there a long time, and meanwhile their troops will grow as soon as they hear a Jedi has landed."

"Well _she_ can read minds," saying it thinking Luke would love the idea. "We can just throw her into a field of stormtroopers to fish for information." Now joking, "You know, with a little string attached, then reel her back in and see what we caught."

The fishing reference goes completely over Luke's head. No fish on Tatooine. Instead, the Terigo reference caused him to be slapped back into all that discomfort regarding her. He looks away to the ground and pauses... pausing a bit too long, thinking of how to respond, how to change the subject from her.

"What," Han says. "I thought you two would be buddies after fighting like that together."

Luke still can't answer or look back, folding his arms now. His conscience can't admit that she's bad or wrong, because everything in the back of his mind says she's right, but the fire in him can't admit she is. Finally, "I'll send her out alone."

"Gee, that bad huh?"

Chewbacca reluctantly wanders over to check in. He would have rather spent all day just hanging out with Terigo, so he doesn't say anything, hoping to not press Han into giving him orders just yet.

"Hey Chewie, glad to see you took your time," teasing him, but actually glad so he could chat with Luke. "Do a supplies check for getting to that planet I mentioned. He's in." And Han and Chewbacca walk off to get ready.

Luke could sense Terigo just behind where Chewbacca was, so he stays in the cockpit until she passes, except— _Blast it. He didn't ask her if she was ok with coming. Guess he thought it was_ my _job._ So Luke steps out, unpleased but keeping his cool. His deadened eyes look to her, and he pauses, debating many things.

She just stands there, looking content, ignoring him until she feels the weight of his unblinking eyes. She glances at him, then away, then at him a little longer, realizing.

Luke speaks low and even, "Have you read where we're going yet? Do you have any objections to coming?"

She pauses to concentrate, looking just to the side of him, until she reads the details. "Oh. Sure, that's fine." Then she glances at him for just a moment, her content mood falters some with a touch of softness. "As long as _you're_ going."

He blinks, and his brows furrow. _What the hell is that supposed to mean. First she hates me, now she doesn't? What is s—_

"No, I've never hated you," she says calmly, a little reluctant, a little sad. "Well..." as if she was going to add an exception, but she pauses on internal struggles. She gently fidgets with her cowl and looks to the bright yellow of it, then away. She barely mutters, "Never mind."

But Luke was already leaning to take a step. He storms off, uncomfortably adjusting his clothes and closing his eyes to calm his essence as he walks towards the solitude of dark cabins.

.

Much later, Luke opens his eyes from meditation in a room alone, except for the peaceful hum of the ship flying through space.

"Guys, get in here," Han yells with concern.

Luke enters the cockpit to find Han and Chewbacca looking at a planet of mostly orange soil with a few water masses. Between the rare white clouds, they don't notice the two volcanic dark-grey clouds on opposite ends of the planet.

Han says, "We're here. I need extra pairs of eyes. I'm going to get close to the surface to take a look around, but I'm shutting off sensors 'n' all that to avoid detection. Luke, if you're able to detect probes or the like, have at it."

"I doubt it, if we're scanning as fast as we did at Pargin's Gulf," Luke says, quite disappointed not to be able to use his powers.

"Well, then stay sharp. Here we go," Han says and propels the ship forward.

Terigo joins them from politely staying outside the cockpit and starts looking too.

They all see a giant crater from an asteroid and notice several smaller craters scattered across the planet. Han sees a hairline ring around a pale-blue dot where the pattern of dirt changes to dense speckles. He points to it and says, "That looks like civilization there, by the largest lake. I'm going to come in far away."

Terigo says with wonder, "Good eye. It's so small."

Luke says, "It's the largest lake I've ever seen on a desert planet. Tatooine had none," but forgets why he was bothering to speak to her.

Closer to the ground, they could see a distant dead volcano among orange mountains and a desert blowing with ash dust storms. They scan through much of the same for a while, distantly circling around the lake to get a view of the civilization at all angles. They pass all sorts of ancient stone ruins covered in sand and ash.

Han circles the ship in a spiral to gradually get closer, and after a third pass, Luke points almost as if he's won a contest, "There. Those specks of black buildings. Those are Imperial structures."

They all see them now, scattered specks on the outskirts. Various guard posts and new larger constructions make up the thinnest parts, with a cluster of a few specks in the middle, and a thick dot of a large building in the center.

"Alright," Han says, thrilled things are moving along. "Let's find a place to land."

They fly to the outskirts miles from the Imperials and get as low to the ground as possible. While trying to stay among hills to avoid being seen, they see the edge of civilization and discreetly park the Falcon among rocky hills.

Han says, "Ok. I'm going in to hunt for info. Chewie, guard the ship. Luke?" eyeing Luke and Terigo, awaiting Luke's decision on what the two of them are going to do.

Luke sighs, "I'm going to stay with the ship too, mostly. I'll investigate locally so you can cover more by going further out. I'm more likely to be recognized than anyone here." He doesn't look to Terigo to give his order, "Terigo, I want you—" but deciding he should still maintain manners, "It would be best if you could scout the area too, discretely reading minds to..." He looks to what she's doing.

She was re-draping her clothes to hide her lightsaber. Sounding ordinarily content, "I understand. That's fine."

So Han and Terigo leave to make their way towards nearby buildings and Luke watches them walk away. Anxiety builds in his gently fidgeting hands. With his eyes on Han, Terigo softly looks back. Luke eyes her for a moment before she looks forward again with no change in her content expression. They had made eye contact with neutral emotions towards each other for the first time. _She_ is _the only other Jedi... Friends are hard to come by, and die by the hundreds. I shouldn't be so picky._ He watches them, holding himself still, growing anxious he may never see them again, or worse. _Cloud City—_

—He distracts himself from such concerns by turning his thoughts to Chewbacca who gives a friendly chin-nod and sits in the Falcon's shade with his crossbow. Luke debates practicing mind-reading on him, but he wasn't exactly feeling social, not with the concerns of new dangers, challenges, and adventures... _No, not really adventure._ His service as a Jedi was hardly invigorating in that way anymore. Missions were now a chance to build skill, to grow, to save people, and to continually build skill in combating anxieties. In other words, overcoming the Darkness that torments him with losing his friends in so many hundreds of ways. _It's better that they're away, that way I won't have to see it if they die. Solitude is the—_

 _—Stop it!_ He stops his brooding by forcing his thoughts to the buildings—towards the wonderful distraction of work. He thinks about the best way to get in, who to look out for, how to conceal his lightsaber... until he's distracted by the effect that a hot arid planet has on someone in his long-sleeved black clothes. He removes his outer tunic and wipes the sweat dripping down his neck and bare arms. As he thinks of what to do with his tunic, he realizes he can use it. So he ties it around his waist to conceal his lightsaber and closes his eyes to meditate for a quick moment. Spreading his essence beyond buildings, he starts walking towards them with his eyes partially closed, aiming to stay away from as many people as possible.

 _But there's safety in solitude..._

 _._

Chewbacca carefully stacks a rock on many others to finish a defensive wall he had been building throughout the day. He slumps to sit behind it under the Falcon, but gargles with frustration when he notices the shade has since shifted from that spot. He perks up when he sees the bright yellow of Terigo's cowl sauntering out of the buildings.

Terigo waves to Chewbacca but then notices a hooded man doing something strange in the shade on the other side of the Falcon. She senses it's Luke just a second later, so she says a brief hello to Chewbacca by patting his arm and chatting a little. She then casually wanders over to Luke, figuring she probably has time to kill before Han returns.

Luke had sensed her long before she did but stays focused on what he's doing. He now wears a tan hood accessory over his eyes, and was levitating two rocks while beginning to climb boulders. His sweat and steady yet fatigued breath tells her he had been climbing the boulders over and over for some time.

Friendly, Terigo asks, "What are you doing?"

Luke stops and takes a deep breath to draw some careful attention into forming words. Speaking slowly, "Can't you read my mind about it," with a low tone that could have added 'and leave me alone?' The floating rocks wavered, almost dropping from Luke having to also concentrate on speaking.

Terigo replies with no change in her laid-back friendly tone, "On a casual—automatic—basis, one can only really sense what's on the surface of the mind. That's why asking questions is useful. It brings the thought to the surface, without having to put effort into wanting in their mind."

As Luke jumps to another boulder, he opens his mouth to ask if she knows now. But he gets the feeling she's figured it out by now, without removing his hood from his eyes to see her intrigued smile.

She says, "Oh. That's... I never realized." Her tone shifts to realization, "That's why _Sacrifus_ hooded his eyes so often, to train the sense of the Force. (I guess it was so automatic for him it was never on his mind...)" She looks between him and his floating rocks, seeing they barely waver with his more strenuous movements. Her tone changes to conversational, "I've never seen anyone on Audinic do this. We don't have... _didn't_ have... an interest in the inanimate." Her tone dropped solemnly on 'didn't' but now wavers up and down between that sadness and the enjoyment of conversation. Her tone especially wavers down on similar corrections in present and past tense. In the back of Luke's mind, he finds these continual corrections odd, but he keeps his essence focused on objects rather than what she could be feeling. She continues, "We wanted to see _people_ , their _expressions_ , to _connect_. Not objects or technology or such." She realizes with a scoff towards herself, "I probably talk too much for you people here, I apologize," accenting 'apologize' with a modest single chuckle. "My people are—were—very open with each other. Our religions don't fear judgment; judgment from others is healthy; fear isn't. Most of us ca—could understand what we were trying to say without words, and we always loved the chance to socialize and connect with people. So I apologize if I'm blabbering in your eyes." She smirks to help make light of it.

Luke's floating rocks had wavered here and there as Luke tried to listen. He jumps down ten feet from having circled his rocks. As if her apology and her openness managed to help ease some of his discomfort towards her, he draws attention from the rocks again so he can reluctantly say, "Well, it _has_ been informative." Then he focuses strongly on rocks from a pile, starting to make them fly one by one at the boulders as fast as possible and stop as close as possible.

"Ok," she says, simply acknowledging his reply as if she was expecting more of or less of a reaction. She watches him for a bit as he continues, and as he continues ignoring her. Then she adds in thought, "It makes so much sense now why Sacrifus hooded his eyes around people. No reason to connect. Just navigate through inanimate objects and slaves. Though I'm sure they were the same thing to him: just tools."

With the last rock flung at the wall, Luke lets them drop. He sighs to deeply relax, and says, "Are you saying you think it will pull me into the Dark Side." It wasn't a question. He was just curious what she was thinking. _Ben would have said there was danger in it if there really was._

She thinks about it for a moment, "Well..."

 _Although... maybe he didn't know..._

"I suppose. It could, yeah." She jokes, "Especially if you wear dark _colors_ all the time. Did they not have brighter clothes to buy with that hood?"

Luke sits to rest and meditate, taking the chance to challenge himself with trying to meditate while talking. It makes his words slow and even. "I don't see it that way. I'm not going to change it, until I can be sure, that I'm no longer in danger of its influence. I'm not going to fool myself into thinking I've gotten stronger, if I haven't."

She blinks. "...I suppose..." It seems she couldn't help being surprised by this, by his lack of not being completely bigheaded in her eyes. Especially surprised that he's desiring the truth even if it hurts. But as if mentioning this 'just in case it helps,' she gently says, "But... sometimes you have to do something _until_ you feel it, not _when_ you feel it."

Luke sighs, ready to tell her she's wrong. But with all the time he's had to think about everything, he had begun to hate the part of him that makes him feel that, that pushes other's ideas away if they hurt. With great effort, and the help of his calm essence, he manages to grudgingly say, "Fine. I see your point. But for now, I'm trying it my way."

As if she was puzzled by a subtle oddity in his statement, she drops the subject.

Chewbacca peeks at them, curious. She sees him but puts her finger to her mouth to indicate that Luke requires silence. Rather than chat with Chewbacca anymore, she just sits and reclines, watching Luke meditate peacefully...

.

Luke opens his eyes to soil that looks even oranger in the sunset. When he sees Terigo thirty feet away, the smallest feeling of surprise taps him for a split second, then disappointment. The emotionless void of his meditation had caused him to forget she or his problems ever existed.

Without moving anything but his eyes for a long moment, he wakes his mind by just looking towards her but not at her. He sees she hasn't appeared to move since he started meditating, yet she now finishes a snack, and Chewbacca does too walking away from her. He realizes she must have told Chewbacca that she would rather watch himself than chat like they love to do, and to not chat here because it would disturb his meditation. But his hunger wrenches his thoughts to the snack, and the moment his mouth starts to salivate, she tosses him one, as if she read his— _of course. Funny how reality and memories can disappear in meditation._

Rejuvenating himself with a deep breath through his nose, he chews the dried strip of something. He had long gotten used to the taste of—well... if cardboard or chalk existed, then were combined with sea salt and fat...

Regardless, the taste of food seems to elevate him slightly above his emotionless calm, despite looking towards someone he didn't like. So he bothers to speak to her again, hoping for questions answered, in any form. Insults and pretention be damned, because by now, with all his brooding, he had had enough of it to stop caring about being hurt.

"So," he starts calmly, "How do you expect me to heal my hand if I'm... on the Middle Side, or in the Middle," flinging his hand to add the words 'however you care to say it.'

She takes a deep breath, waking up her chest for a long chat. Though at first she doesn't seem happy that he's 'trying to cheat' by asking questions, she must know that he has no hope of figuring out the Light if this whole world has no exposure to it. So she seems to readjust her idea of his confusion and becomes glad he's at least interested in learning. She proceeds carefully, "Well for one, you should train to be consistently in the Light—by seeing things from a different point of view to be happy about them, basically. When the body is happy, it has reached perfection, it has reached all it has sought out to achieve, so it is most powerful there. But, two..." She pauses, reluctant, as if concerned it may confuse him. But her curiosity and confusion drives her to proceed, to possibly find answers, "...I've seen that a Dark user can heal someone... I don't know how, I didn't see or feel it, or maybe I'm wrong, but..."

She and Luke hadn't been making eye contact, they were just looking vaguely towards & around the other. But Luke's audacity—and a chance to finally dig at _her_ for a change—causes him to look the furthest away, pretending to be distracted to coolly say, "You know, you speak of perfection and ascendance, like you're all-powerful, but have you really seen what power the Dark Side can possess? Or are you hiding powers greater than what I've seen from the Emperor?" _Although, in the interr—_

"I'm sorry, that's not what I've meant to convey." She sounded sad, and has trouble becoming content again, "I haven't ascended, by any means." She chokes on her breath for a moment, and Luke notices her concentrating on a string of internal thoughts. Her lips move just slightly as if to almost speak her thoughts, until she catches hold of an idea to change the subject. Her tone then returns to being casually content, "And yes, I have seen the power of the Dark." There was nothing snide in her reply, and the absence of it continues, replaced with friendly sincerity, "But let me ask you this... Do they look happy?—or _feel_ —you've felt them. Do they _feel_ like they're getting all that they want in life? Or are they forever displeased and angry; craving—(pathetically) desperate—to dominate something else, _never satisfied_ , even with world domination."

Luke thinks for a moment, "Hmm. Well killing and torture makes them smile, I remember the Emperor's face well. Maybe _that_ brings them happiness."

She replies with much certainty, "It's a different type of smile, and it feels different, it feels Dark, not Light."

 _She_ did _observe the Sith for 4 years._ "But there must be more to it than that. I'm happy with Leia but my hand hasn't healed." _Unless..._

"There is. It takes training," she says. "The thing is though... I doubt he was smiling when he healed them..." looking to the past.

"Well..." This new mystery was grabbing Luke's full attention, especially with the chance to figure something out before _she_ does.

She continues, "...but they do have a heightened power. I would guess that's the only similarity."

"Well, if the act of wanting to heal someone is a happy thought that would fuel the Force's healing..." Luke begins, but doesn't know quite where to go from there.

"They're not happy to heal. They do it for selfish reasons," she says.

"Well, ok," feeling he's on to something, "The Dark Side's power _is_ based on selfishness and dominance over others."

She reads where he's going with it and jumps ahead to joke with a little concern, "Don't... get any ideas about healing while being Dark," smirking wide enough so that he could be sure to see she was joking from the corner of his eyes.

Luke lets that idea wash over him to continue thinking about the whole subject. She does too for a while, but neither come across anything new.

She sighs in hopeful thought, "I guess the Light side is not truly lost to the Mids, that they _do_ use some of it, they just don't know they are." Luke hadn't been connecting his essence to her, but from what he could see and hear, he wondered if she was feeling hopeful of not being alone...

He looks at her from the corner of his eye, watching her as she seems to relish in the thought to pull some Light back into her.

He stands up and starts walking to get a view of the buildings, and she follows.

There was still no sign of Han, and now in the all-encompassing grey of dusk shadows, it was getting tough to see. Luke stands there looking through the buildings, trying to sense him further out. But he feels nothing. He trusts Han knows how to be careful, and that he'll do as thorough job he can considering how thrilled he is about this new treasure. But... Cloud City always popped back into Luke's mind at times like these. He let his friends go off alone, they were tortured, and he got his hand cut off trying to save them.

Terigo tries to cheer him up, "Hey, let's train while we wait, help take your mind off it."

He knew this was a good idea, he knew brooding always led to Darkness, _but train with her?_ He still wasn't convinced he wanted to be around her that much—

—until her tone turns half-sharp, "Worry-wart. What, are you afraid?"

 _I knew it. I knew she—_

But next, she jokingly scolds him, joking as heavy as she can so that he won't take it tooo harshly, hoping he can see it from the corner of his eye, "Ah, haven't developed that thick skin _yet_? Like I haven't been hard enough on you already, come on," adding a huge smirk.

 _Is that what she really thought she was doing this whole time? Instead of being cruel or pretentious?_

She jabs her fingers into his arm, "Come on, coward." And another jab, "Tired weakling."

" _Hey._ " His head jerks to hers to better read what the heck she's thinking.

Smiling fiercely, " _What_ ," and her expression turns playful to let him in on the joke, "I'm testing your resistance to the Dark, you baby," almost chuckling. "You can't have your essence turn hot like that to something as simple as meaningless insults."

"That wasn't a reaction," he says, keeping his eyes beyond the buildings again.

"Yes it was. I said a word, and each time, I felt a hot spark of annoyance right after, a little jiggle in your essence—"

"It wasn't a big deal—I wasn't serious..." but he didn't quite believe his own words—though, watching the buildings wasn't going help. So he turns around to start walking, intending to let her to follow.

She does, and they walk without looking at each other. She says, "How does that matter. There shouldn't be any such heat in _any_ situation."

He couldn't exactly argue with that... But the thought of where this insult game could lead was concerning, yet, not. It was a _challenge. And a rightful test. She's said worse, I've been through worse. And the Emperor used more than words to cause hatred in me._ "Alright fine. Test me. Give me all you got." When her fist rises to squeeze her lips, he turns to see that it was trying to hide the burning mischievous joy on her face.

She begins to concentrate, still without looking at him. "You're reckless."

Yoda's words again. He makes an effort to keep his expression neutral, yet he knew that meant nothing, she wasn't even looking. And enemies didn't care, nor would his expression matter if his essence still changed. But at least focusing on his expression could distract him from actually feeling something. Luke could feel her essence much deeper in his mind and body, especially after she spoke. _So did she feel a hot jump? I swear there wasn't._

"You're a daydreaming farmhand."

An old wound, but he still felt a faint bounce in heat, especially since it came from someone meaning to hurt him. And now the faintest flicker of coldness comes right after from concern, from realizing he wouldn't have even noticed it if he wasn't paying such close attention this time. And he becomes even more concerned that he wasn't able to stop it. _This might be harder than I thought._

"Twenty-something."

He might have had a chance at that one had her tone not changed to spot-on condescendence.

" _Kid_." Her tone was low and cutting. Yeah, she meant business now. "Han thinks so too."

 _Like she isn't only two years older, and Han can think what he wants, how much does he really know about me._ This hindered the spark from becoming hot, and he calms it instantly with long-trained reflexive focus.

"Makeshift Jedi."

 _Like she would know. I've defeated—I've overcome impossible odds for such minimal training._

"Orphan."

He's getting the hang of it. That one would have turned his essence cold, if he hadn't had ignored it completely.

"Failure."

 _Please._ Ignoring this one too.

Her voice faltered on that last one. And she said no more. Luke feels her essence pull away until it was its normal faint presence in him. He feels momentary triumph until he wondered if he heard her tone—and even external essence—grow sad or cold for a split second at the end.

She just continues to walk with him, so he extends his essence into her for the first time in long while... She was a mix of tepid coldness and faint hot sparks. So, unsure he wanted to know the answer, he asks, "Why did you stop?"

She looks further away from him, then back to the front, and her tone becomes weak. Disappointed. If not even lonesome. "Now you're just combating them with arrogance and ignoring or disregarding the speaker's reasoning. You're not believing they're true. That's not right either. They are true."

Great heat builds in him, rushing in. His mind fights itself. _Stop it, calm down! It's probably a trick, another insult. No, it's not, and I have a right to be angry—No, it's never ok to let anger in. Anger is weakness._

She sighs out: "And now you're mad again..."

Luke almost becomes angry again, but he sighs and focuses, letting it go, ignoring it. Becoming calm. Then he allows a touch of bitter disbelief to say, " _Am_ I now? If ignoring insults isn't the way to combat the Darkness, then _how_?"

She seems to struggle with thoughts.

He considers more and looks at her, annoyed, "You say they're true, but if I were to _accept_ them, it would _also_ pull me into the Dark Side, from them causing pain instead of hatred."

She makes direct eye contact for just a quick moment...

...and now he gets the feeling this is about more than just him.

"I'm sorry," she says, "you'll have to figure this one out yourself. I've cheated you enough already. And I..."

 _She's getting pretentious again, but..._ but this time it sounded like an excuse. _Or maybe it was always an excuse._

Luke feels her essence stretch out and sees her attention wander along the darkening horizon. She's changing the subject. So Luke stretches his essence to feel for Han... and he _does_. Then she feels him too. They both halt and turn.

Luke starts rushing over to meet him, but calms himself and manages to direct his relief into keeping his essence perfectly calm.

Terigo catches up, seeming uplifted.

Han sees her jog over and says, "Oh you're back already?" snidely skeptical that she accomplished anything.

"Well," she was smiling sociably again, "I kind of feel guilty now knowing how long you stayed out working, but I did get a lot of good leads and general information."

Han says "We'll discuss it over dinner," waving a bag that wakes up their noses. He grumbles: "Yeah you better all _enjoy this_. I only _bought_ it to make conversation. It's all overpriced imports here. No local sources of food. So you better all be generous with our supply rations from here on out."

From the ship, Chewbacca roars and barks the long-winded hello of a nagging mother who waited bored, hot, and worried all day long.


	7. CHAPTER 7 -- Inanimate vs Animate

Chapter 7

 **INANIMATE VS. ANIMATE**

* * *

THE FALCON SAT QUIET the next morning. Locked up. Because about a mile away, all four of the group were peeking over a hill to size-up the layout of the Imperial base beyond the wall below. Scattered along the horizon of red hills, they see several distant outposts, and closer in they see a hill among a mile of scattered ancient ruins that look like a rusty metal forest. Before it, there were brand new developments: landing pads, constructions on partial new buildings, additions to finished ones, and a rosy-black building in the center of it all.

They were all well-rested and Luke carried his neutral Jedi demeanor well, taking it upon himself to lead.

As they climb down, Han groans, "They sure have built up fast compared to us."

Luke says, "I think our forces are trying to stay undercover."

Terigo adds lightheartedly, "That, and you can accomplish anything by using human death & suffering."

Han eyes her and half-jokes, "You know, you're awfully morbid for smiling all the time."

Terigo smirk-scoffs, "I thought you called it thick skin, Han."

"Weelll. Little miss attitude now, are we," playing around.

With a joking 'don't pull my tail' tone, Terigo says, "Oh please, you like it."

They head through the streets along the wall and Luke marvels at what looks like ancient rusted metal pillars and crumbled stone walls. Terigo notices him noticing them and touches them to show her mutual interest despite having seen them yesterday. He says, "So you were saying that people are calling this planet: Origins?"

But she stops them behind a corner. They all peek around to see two stormtroopers guarding an Imperial-built gate two-hundred feet away, both standing awkwardly to try to stay in the shade. Terigo keeps her voice down to inform, "I couldn't get inside because there's two of them and I couldn't—I tried a number of times, but I couldn't influence them both at the same time without the other's orders fading. Not at this distance."

Determined, Luke says, "But _I'm_ here now."

"Right..." Terigo says, a little concerned yet the thrill of adventure was rising, "but how far and how long can you affect a mind? If they see us, it will be all over their base in seconds through their helmet's comlink. And if they're killed, we only have thirty minutes between each check-in."

Luke grumbles at himself on the inside because he wasn't exactly sure he knew the answer. "I'll test it, with something harmless."

He puts his back against the wall and starts calming every knot in his essence, concentrating with his eyes closed. The other three watch, curiously, patiently, growing more curious, enough to peek around the corner again. They see the closest guard remove one hand from his blaster and raise it like he were flying, but out where the other oblivious guard couldn't see it. He holds it there for a bit and Chewbacca jabs Han to gesture ' _are you seeing this_ ' and Han jabs back ' _course I am, hairball_.' The two gawk at Luke's power and try not to look so blown away as Luke comes out of his state. He takes a peek himself and after a moment, watches the guard drop his arm then seem confused and shift uncomfortably.

"That should be enough time," Luke says.

"Just barely," Terigo says, but she seems even more thrilled now. "Alright, so have yours face away while I'll have mine open the gate. I saw in their minds that there are warehouses just beyond, so we should have some cover."

"Alright. Give me a lead of seven seconds, then do yours."

"Got it," she says.

They both put their backs against the wall and begin to concentrate.

Han and Chewbacca watch one guard turn to face a nook in the wall. Then the other turns and presses buttons on the gate padlock. In two seconds: Luke and Terigo come out of it, feel the other is too, and—

—start running! " _Go._ "

Han and Chewbacca bolt after them and glance at the helpless, ridiculous-looking stormtroopers as they get through the gate. On the other side, they sneak around walls and corners to find a good hiding spot behind several buildings.

Han goes to peek around the next corner before a gap between buildings, but Luke holds out his hand and says, "Hold up. We don't know who or what could be looking this way. I'm going to focus on sensing, for sensors or troops before we move, for the whole mission."

"Got it," Han says with Chewbacca, both feeling a mix of relief and being useless.

He takes a deep breath, lets it out slowly, and becomes truly serene. "It's clear here," and waves them to follow.

They cross the gap to hide behind another building, and beyond this one is a very wide open gap leading to a very wide open field. The construction supplies lying in the gap are too low to provide any cover, so Luke pauses for just a quick moment to sense and says, "It's clear."

" _Wait._ " Terigo's hand jets out to the wall to stop them. "No, there's someone sitting facing this way, about three-hundred feet away. Unarmored staff..." she focuses to try to get more information.

They all look to her. Luke sees she's being sincere, not trying to outdo him or such, so he senses again. He has to put more concentration into it but he does eventually feel a body of some kind.

She says, "Ok, I think he was adjusting his shoe... he's up and... now he's gone." And as they run by the gap, Luke eyes the distance, uneasy with himself that there might be something else he could have missed.

Trotting towards another gap, they start to slow but Terigo says, "It's okay, it's clear. Keep going," without slowing much.

Luke jets out his hand just like she had done, " _No_ , there's a sensor _just_ around the corner." They stop at the corner and now _she_ has to concentrate to feel something. Luke can't believe she needs to for something so close. She chuckles once in amazement and awe, but he couldn't tell if it was in awe that she _didn't_ sense it or in awe that he _did_. It was both, and her smile grows, even making a split second of eye contact.

Luke tries thinking about what is around the corner, but says to Terigo alone, "Hmm."

She turns to acknowledge she heard but naturally reads what he's thinking.

He says, "Inanimate vs. animate."

"Competitiveness is a _Dark_ desire..." she warns lightheartedly.

He lets out a soft grumbling-sigh from the nose to himself. "Inanimate _and_ animate then." The idea of working with her was still prickly. _But, it could be worth the challenge. And, it_ is _a challenge._ For there were few things that fueled him more than the chance to prove himself.

The three were awaiting his order, so he decides, "Let's find a way around."

.

They reach one of the last of the clumped buildings and peek out to size up the rosy-black building ahead, but—

"There's too many people around," Terigo says, "I can't keep track of—"

"Get inside," Luke says, "this garage is safe."

They scramble into it and peek out the windows. The rosy-black building in the center was the largest, clearly the command center. Two entrances: front and back. Tall for only two stories. And it looks like it could staff at least fifty stormtroopers, not to count the fifty or so scattered across the base and outposts. The four each take their time to scan the entire base, each with their own thoughts and plans, but each coming to the same conclusion.

"How the heck are we going to get in?" Han says. "There's guards on every entrance," saying this towards the two Jedi.

They're silent again as Terigo continues to process it all and tries to read distant minds, but Luke's gaze at the command center grows more determined and confident.

Terigo says, "Maybe there's something we can do in that annex, there's only one guard."

Han says, "I doubt it, otherwise it would be better guarded. We should just scout and wait for Rebel troops, or sabotage what we can."

But Luke pushes himself from the wall and starts walking, "I've got this one. Stay here."

Their wide eyes watch as he leaves and they press themselves against the windows to watch him. They see him sneak around to the command center and approach the annex, then get into a safe hidden nook. They just barely make out that he's relaxing into stillness.

As they chat, they stay glued to the windows.

Han asks, "What's he doing?"

"I was going to ask _you_ , I didn't get a chance to fully read his thoughts... I thought he was going to use the Force to move the guard, but he passed him up, and he's still using the Force to do something..." sighing.

"Well," Han says, "apparently the power only works on idiots, so maybe that guy's not an idiot, somehow."

On the other side of Han, Chewbacca looks at Terigo as if he means to say something, and when she looks back, he just rolls his eyes and waits for a reply. She chuckles. Then Chewbacca starts laughing, right by Han's ear.

Han, annoyed by the noise and whatever they're joking about, says to Chewbacca, " _What._ " Then to Terigo, " _What._ Hey, _this_ wall of bed-hair is an idiot, use it on him to stop laughing, it hurts," rubbing his earhole, half serious.

They chuckle more and she says, "He thought the same thing about you."

" _Thought?_ Thought what,—"

"That—"

"—that I'm an idiot. Yeah that figures."

Chewbacca nearly laughs again to say, "Beat you to it. _Who's_ slow in the head?"

"Literal inside-jokes. _Great,_ " Han mopes, then focuses entirely on Luke.

She glances between Luke and Chewbacca and says, "I'm... That's great you figured out you could talk to me without speaking. Luke hasn't even figured that out yet."

Eventually, they all sigh, bored, waiting for something to happen. They continue to look around Luke's area for what he might be doing, squinting with furrowed brows...

...waiting...

...waiting for some time...

...until their eyes gradually...

...get larger...

...and larger...

...with the slow topple...

...of the massive rooftop construction-crane near Luke.

"He's doing that, he's making it fall," she says. And fall it _DOES_. The crane operator doesn't stop yelling as he runs away, as it falls away from Luke, crashing towards the front of the building, crushing everything as it tumbles across the roof's front edge to the ground.

Alarms go off and they watch Luke sneak back with a fine mosey.

Entering the garage, his calmness becomes near serenity from reaching safety and friends. He tells them, "We have about twenty minutes before we need to move. From having fought against Imperials on solitary missions these past years, I've determined their basic combat protocols. They will treat any instance like this as a High-Alert Emergency just in case they were attacked. All duties will stop and all troops will be called to arms. There will be chaos, and the fact that they're new to the base means they probably don't have their emergency plan drilled in, meaning more chaos. Once they determine that the incident is not an enemy attack, their lack of practice will cause their guard to be lowest for a period of time. So the second they release the High-Alert is the second we need to move. All the guards are in the front so we will enter through the back entrance, or vice versa if they change their position."

Luke eyes Terigo, having felt her staring at him the whole time. And for nearly a whole second, there was eye contact before she looks away. She had been staring at him with newfound awe. But now they both turn to watch the chaos outside.

Han wants to trust Luke, but his experience of concern speaks up, "That is, assuming they _assume_ it wasn't an attack."

"They will," Luke said with certainty, and his hatred for the Imperials shows just above the surface of his serenity. "They'll blame the crane operator. They're animals like that. With the way I moved the crane, they couldn't possibly blame it on intruders, especially not when someone lesser than them can be their excuse for getting to bully someone. Granted, they might execute him if he's had even one other screw up..." and trails off. Han turns to the window now too, and they all stare for a moment before Luke speaks again, "But meanwhile, Terigo..." She looks towards him and he to her, though not at. Then he merely waits, expecting her to read his mind.

Han and Chewbacca look between the two Jedi, and after a moment, Terigo says, "Okay, no problem." She smirks from Luke finally figuring out they can speak this way, the preferred way of her people.

Han demands, "What."

Now Luke smirks, a little embarrassed by flaunting his power but equally as pleased to rub it in Han's face, "I merely asked her—with my thoughts—to spend this time sensing for incoming enemies. I'll be doing the same, so I need you two to be my ears and eyes."

"Cute," Han grumbles.

Chewbacca says a lighthearted and quiet sentence and Terigo fails to hold back a light chuckle or smirk. It catches Luke's attention, but Terigo explains, "He says he still beat you to it, talking to me with your mind."

Luke's surprise actually chips a little bit of his serenity away, and he looks to Chewbacca with the 'won-but-lost' feeling of second place. Chewbacca rubs Luke's head with the faintest of pleased chirps and starts scanning out the window. Luke allows a groaning-smirk if to only laugh at himself, and begins concentrating...

.

Sneaking to the back entrance of the rosy-black command center, Terigo and Luke mind-control the two guards there to get inside like at the gate. But this time, Terigo spends extra time walking by her guard. Luke hurries her along but sees she's reading the guard's mind. He ends up yanking her through the door and the four rush to a nearby empty hall.

Luke opens his mouth to speak to the stunned look on her face, but she says, " _I know the emergency lockout code._ " Han and Chewbacca whip around to look at her too. She continues, speaking low but clear, calculating, "Most of them are outside right now... If—"

" _Do it_ ," Han says most stern. "They're not going to know their head from their tail, not with this many people."

Having focused on his mind, she understands and bolts to the door's control panel while she can still sense the coast is still clear.

"After that crane stunt, they won't know it isn't part of the same confusion, some other hot-headed officer or empty-headed grunt," Han continues.

Luke chimes in, "They'll just be yelling blame at each other while trying to explain to the General to release the lockdown."

"So let's find him first," Han commands.

They peek out of the hall to see Terigo push the last buttons in the code. Alarms go off again with a thick barricade door closing over the back entrance. Luke begins to send his essence throughout the building but soon groans and says quickly, "Well I think they'll be the first to find _us_ , the alarm turned on a hallway sensor."

" _Then let's move_ ," Han commands.

Terigo's attention is wrenched beyond the others, down the hall. Just as Luke notices and whips around, an officer turns the corner in a quick walk. Distracted, he starts to notice the four of them and slows as he realizes they don't look like they belong here. He halts with the stiff precision of having once been a soldier. Luke's group had become still, not quite frozen, but ready for anything... except Han, who speaks before the officer realizes what he's looking at.

Han casually puts his hand on his hip—adjacent to his blaster—distracting the officer from this action by speaking with large hand gestures, "What's the General doing _now_? Or did some _idiot_ screw something _else_ up? _I've_ got _work to do_ with these losers," pointing a thumb back at Terigo and Chewbacca, then addressing them, "Well move _aside_ , let him _pass_ ," then sluffing-off the conversation as if that were that. With such skill in executing the fine subtleties of BS, it was a convincing lie... had the officer not been eyeing the Wookie.

"Who—What's your ID, who's your supervi—"

Han quick-draws a shot—but the officer dodges and quick-draws back. Han & Luke dodge and Luke was already getting his lightsaber out—but drops it. Han pushes him out of the way of another shot and hits the officer. The officer's body thuds to the floor and his blaster tumbles towards Luke picking up his saber.

"Why don't you pick up his blaster too—What the hell was that?" Han scolds, with worry behind in his voice.

Luke was already talking over him with guilt, "I know, damn it, I'm sorry," successfully picking up his blade, "My hand has been acting up more and more in the last year and medics don't know why—The cybernetics—" flexing the hand.

"Well it better not happen again—I can't take a hit for you like her," Han says. He was yelling only slightly louder than he would have if the alarms weren't booming. "Like I said, take that blaster, use that instead." Luke nearly growls a sigh from hating such an idea, but Han continues, "Why not use your powers to take their blasters away or make walls crush them like you did that crane? I never understood why you use the sword, it can't shoot," but then he remembers the last mission and almost starts taking back his words, "Well—"

"Because I won't get better if I don't use the lightsaber," —growth, of course, was his first line of reasoning— "and I need the saber to block blaster fire."

Han enunciates every word of his next sentence, " _You don't need the sword Luke._ Or use _both. Sword_ in one hand, blaster in the other."

Terigo says, "You're strong with the Force, especially over inanimate objects, so if you just use your saber to deflect—"

"Or use your power to throw it at enemies," Han says.

Despite Han arguing _against_ something as Jedi as the lightsaber, Luke notices this was the first situation that Han had admired his ability, referring to it as a 'power' rather than the belittling idea 'magic.' It cheers him up enough to lay some light sass, "Are you kidding me? And get it shot down?" Sarcastic, "Right, I'll just go buy another one at the Jedi market." He calms his essence to start sensing the area, "The crystal inside is rarer than anything _you_ could find. Jedi can feel where they are, but..." and his thoughts fade into finding a safe passage.

Han rolls his eyes over to Terigo for support, but she starts sensing too. Chewbacca starts protecting Terigo's back, so Han gets the hint and protects Luke. After a bit of waiting, Luke and Terigo start discussing the layout of the surrounding area while meditating.

"...and what about the corridor after it?"

"It's clear but there's movement all around... The room on the left..."

"—has too many sensors..."

"But the room on the right is closed. It's too difficult to feel inside for people."

"If only they were Force-sensitive, we could feel them..."

"If they were, we would have more problems than the room being occupied..."

And when the decision is made and they come out of it, they wave Han and Chewbacca to follow as they all hurry down the hall.

Avoiding being noticed by sudden scramblers, they stop when they hear an electronic voice announcement from the overhead intercom.

" _All personnel, commence emergency procedure_ Defense One _immediately._

 _"All personnel, commence emergency procedure_ Defense One _immediately._

 _"Proceed to Annex One and secure the position._

 _"Proceed to Annex One—"_

"Sounds like that's where the General will end up," Han says.

"But will he really release the lockdown now?" Luke asks. "I think the sensor triggered the defense plan."

"He might to let the outside troops help," Han says.

Terigo says, "Then maybe we should make an appearance to let him know it's real." She looked thrilled to start a fight.

"Then they would _definitely_ let the troops in," Han says.

"Well," Terigo says, "maybe I can read some of their minds, unless you guys know how to use their computers."

"Not without passcodes," Luke says.

"Sounds like a plan," Han says. " _Let's move,_ before they get on top of things."

So they sense their way through hallways and Terigo tries to read the minds of people they hide from. The building begins looking emptier and emptier, and the noises of human chaos become quieter and quieter—and quieter still when the alarm shuts off—

"(Uh oh,)" Han groans. "Sounds like the General is making decisions."

"Found them," Terigo says. "There's a room this way that must be the Annex entrance, they're all in—" her breath cuts short.

" _What_."

"They're gone. The door closed, I can't sense them." They all rush in the direction of the room and stop before a doorway leading to another hall. Terigo says, "There, at the end of this hall." She steps forward and Chewbacca blindly follows, but Han and Luke don't.

Luke stops her with his arm, "Wait."

Terigo says, "If I can get closer, there's usually crevices that our essence can go through."

"But there's no cover," Luke says. "If they open the door—or come from behind—"

"Well I'm going in," she says, ducking under his arm. "You don't have to cover me."

Han scoffs, "Of course we do. What are you, stupid?"

Chewbacca whines a concern for her.

Her casual mood changes, showing a determined grin fueled by memories, "Every fight is a new challenge—a chance to train skills, to become stronger..."

On the word 'challenge,' Luke looked to her. Her sense of thrill for battle made sense now. Luke had felt the same in younger years, but now his feelings were mixed— _or maybe I'm hindered_ —by anxiety.

"...Stronger, or a chance to die," she adds to Han, with a smirk of years of longing.

Han says, "You're cra—"

"There's a difference between being crazy and desperate Han," Terigo says, and her burning eyes slide to his, adding sternness to her smirk. She looks back to the hall, "When my brother and I were against hordes of Iridonians, we fought fearlessly and our power became stronger because of it. The Force is hindered by fear."

Though Luke's concerns were strong, he wanted everything to abolish his fears. He didn't want to be outshone by her complete lack of it, but the fear of losing Han—or even her—was equally as strong. He stands unsure. So Terigo takes the initiative.

She ignites her lightsaber and starts walking down the hall without concern for whether they follow. Luke ignites his saber and stays behind Han & Chewbacca as they follow her. Something odd tugs on his focus but he releases the tension of concern to spread his essence thicker, trying to find crevices in these odd paneled walls— _or something_. "There's..." There was something odd about the panels that he couldn't quite grasp in his mind, so words for it couldn't follow, at least until it was too late—

—Ch-Clunk—Sphhh—mmmzzzzZZZZ—

 _It's a trap._ Halfway into the hall, the door behind them had shut and the sounds of mechanical movement  & electronic activations had surrounded them. Blaster turrets had come out of the wall and start firing. Luke and Terigo each take out one nearest them with their lightsabers, leaving shots only coming from the ends of the hall. Luke and Terigo both deflect shots from their ends while Han shoots down Luke's end and Chewbacca down Terigo's. Han's shots & the saber deflections seem to do little to nothing, so Luke tries to Force Push a turret, but he can't focus well enough while deflecting so many shots. Even worse, the hall was so narrow that maneuvering their lightsabers meant continually bumping their elbows from their reflexive swings, therefore having to rely less on the Force's instant instinct and more on the slow thoughts of the mind. Terigo couldn't even use her large swings of her lightsaber's whip-spin without hitting the wall, so she was hindered more than Luke.

With the tension of knowing that one small miss would kill them all, they were all sweating and straining to shoot and deflect endlessly, except Chewbacca.

Luckily, Chewbacca's heavy-powered crossbow was doing some damage, and when he finishes destroying Terigo's side of turrets, he works on Luke's. At the split second that the last one blows, Luke bolts towards the door and pushes his saber into it. He cuts away a doorway for them to escape and all but Terigo go through.

She stops just before and says, "Where are you going, the coast is clear now—"

Luke makes the mistake of speaking before he had completely calmed his essence, " _Don't_ you think maybe people are _supposed to feel fear_ so they know when not to get _killed_!"

And Han's fury chimes in, " _Maybe THAT'S why your brother is DEAD!_ "

The heat of surprise had reduced Luke's sensing ability, but even if it had been at its minimum, he still could have felt that Han's words made Terigo's essence suddenly _freeze_. Her breathing too. And her whole body. Luke had begun controlling his breathing to calm himself but meanwhile, he was staring directly at her as she forces out a choked breath, as her essence keeps wavering between ice and stone.

She drifts to be behind the uncut section of door and Han hears her chanting something like she did when she healed her wrist. Han says, "Did she get shot again, or what?—That masochistic—" and he bites his tongue to pursue thoughts of where to go next.

But Luke could feel the answer. She wasn't hurt _physically_. And her essence was getting worse than when she was. Sparks and fire in her were starting to break up the cold. _She might do something rash at this rate._ He stands just outside the cut doorway and was tempted to listen to her words, _but there's no time for this,_ and says, "If you can find a crevice now, do it."

"Give me a minute..." she growls, barely uttering it. Then she goes back to muttering words.

She doesn't move, so he sticks his head in, careful to keep his tone calm, " _Terigo_." And upon seeing her face, now he sees... that her will... was clearly unbreakable despite whatever she endures inside.

She rubs her face hard as if trying to wake up and takes a deep breath. She chokes on her words but her determination pushes through, clearing her throat, "Yeah—I'm—Yeah, just give me a minute. A crevice, crevice, crevice, crevice," and begins saying her thoughts out loud. Her fingers press hard along the wall as she walks toward the annex. It was as if she were trying to feel her way around in the real world, as if she were blind to anything except calming her emotions.

Luke watches her carefully just in case something else happens, but he only becomes witness to the strangeness of her thinking out loud...


	8. CHAPTER 8 -- Base vs Jedi

Chapter 8

 **BASE VS. JEDI**

* * *

LAYERS OF ELECTRONIC HUMMING and muffled clanging is all that fills the base now. The sound of emptiness is in every room, every hallway, every office, every closet, and cafeteria. Or nearly every room.

"This would've been easier if you brought your droids," Han says, reclining bored at a computer station, using his frustration to jab keys. "They probably—maybe—wouldn't be detected by the sensors guarding the main computer."

Luke's tired, calm eyes glance at him from another computer, agreeing. But enough time had passed for a touch of wry to come out, "I'll let them know that next time—when my powers are _busy_ —" tossing an eye up to suggest the crane, "—that you've volunteered to carry them up every set of stairs." Han looks at Luke but Luke was playing it cool for another second before looking over, both smirking on the inside.

Han returns his eyes to the screen and takes a bite of his early lunch, a reluctant bite, as it was something tough and bitter. "Well, we still have 30 minutes to disarm all the traps, before the troops decide the building has killed us, according to her."

"According to the General." _Wait, did I just stick up for her?_ Luke thinks.

Han eyes him, but not with concern. He now had faith in her ability too. "Though I'm... _concerned_ , about what their plan will be when they realize we've changed all the codes and they can't get in." Then he plops his head into his hand to prop it up and grumbles, "Now it's asking for an _Orange_ code, whatever that is. Go ask her if she read that too." He sighs, "At least I'm almost done."

Luke exits into the next room and sees Chewbacca chewing on snacks while gathering boxes of things: datacards, a few blasters, Imperial uniforms—anything of possible value on the market. Even cups and napkins—but those were from lunch. "Traps around the good stuff I take it," Luke mutters towards Chewbacca— _towards_ , not _to_ , because what good would a reply do.

Luke realizes Terigo was no longer with Chewbacca, but his essence points him down a hallway. He finds her at the entrance of a locker room with her lightsaber ignited— "What are you—"

"Oh hey," Terigo says cheerfully— _pzeww woomzt_ — "Come try this out—"

" _What's—What's going on_." Blaster fire had shot at her from the end of one row of lockers, but she had deflected it with carefree whimsy.

— _Pzeww pzeww_ —more shots fired. She calls towards the lockers, "There's no challenge if it's in the same spot. I practically held it still."

"What?" But Luke sees her open her palm from her lightsaber and focus to hover it in the air.

Two more shots fire and she tries to float her lightsaber to deflect them but misses and almost drops her saber when trying to catch it. " _Nice try_ , but your friend had better aim."

A tired, furious stormtrooper jumps out from behind lockers and shoots—missing completely—saying, "He _wasn't_ my _friend_!" then hides in a different spot. "And these are _mass-produced_ pieces of _crap_! They shoot _randomly!_ They're _impossible_!"

She exaggerates an eye-roll for Luke to see, and—

"You're still fighting those stragglers, or are these new, or—?" Luke says.

"Yeah, don't wana waste 'em. We have time," Terigo says. "I read what I needed to. Nothing new from anyone with the General. So now I'm trying to train controlling inanimate objects. My father doesn't—He didn't teach this sort of thing. Our religion's concern was always people, not things." Luke saw a layer of her fiery, determined will among her uplifted spirit. A determination to become stronger, a determination with a hint of desperation and hatred.

— _Pzeww_ — "You suck!" she teases. She motions to Luke's saber, "Have you tried this before? I just started practicing. It's tough. Can't quite get it fast enough to deflect, but someday soon. Maybe ten years from now."

 _Ten years is soon? I guess if they live to be 700._ But Luke sighs a groan, "Did you read what the code called Orange is?"

"Yes," a little disappointed. "Tangerine7. No space."

"...How do you spell that?" Luke says, trying to hide his embarrassment.

"Han should know, his home planet had fruit," Terigo says, deflecting another shot.

Luke gives her a concerned eye and leaves with a low "Thank you."

Terigo says nothing and focuses back on deflecting. But, a minute later, Luke comes back. He stands diagonally behind her for a moment. Then he pulls out his lightsaber, starts hovering it, and she notices. She moves up to give him room, and her grin grows.

Luke hears the exhausted roar of the stormtrooper in plain view " _Oh—What the!_ " and moves his hovering blade at incoming shots—deflecting the third of five, dodging the rest. Terigo tries to hold back an even larger grin, trying not look at his eyes and instead keeping her eyes on his saber to await more. Luke sees her interest from the corner of his eye and can't help but grin too, not just for impressing her, but impressing himself.

Luke rotates his lightsaber in mid-air to get a better grasp of his control. The stormtrooper's mouth gapes open underneath his helmet, and his blaster-arm flops down, panting, fed-up, not even bothering to hide anymore. Luke looks to the stormtrooper and chin nods, challenging him to continue. The stormtrooper takes one last deep breath before his ego rages forward and he starts shooting non-stop.

Shots fly everywhere and Terigo has to deflect some, but Luke is faced with most of it. He keeps acute focus on his blade—unless he wants the hilt shot. He weaves his body just precise inches to dodge shots as a first priority and deflects shots as a second priority. As the onslaught continues, he manages to knock back more and more.

"Oh COME ON!" yells the stormtrooper. His arm falls again, limp, and he tries to stay standing while he pants.

Terigo chuckles once and says, "Didn't the elevator guy say that too?"

Luke sighs with a hint of a smirk, "Maybe they're all mindless clones again."

The stormtrooper leans against the wall, done, so Luke and Terigo relax their lightsabers a little. Luke keeps his hovering and Terigo playfully whines to the stormtrooper, "Aww, don't quit now, you almost got us that time." Luke watches the stormtrooper, if to only keep his eyes away from Terigo. So she breaks the dull moment, using a conversational tone, "I noticed you're not speaking to me with just your thoughts like you did."

He pauses to think of what to say, but then realizes she might think he was trying to reply with his thoughts. So he tries to say something, "Hmm, it's..."

"Well, it's nice that Chewie does," Terigo says. "It's how my people like to talk. Speaking out loud is pretty formal to us. Almost insincere, and rather inefficient; there's only so many words."

Luke's manners kick-in—not wanting to offend her with avoiding the question despite his prickliness towards her, "It's... weird. It takes getting used to, I can't tell if you've heard all of it or if I've made all of it clear."

"It helps if you're reading my mind back. But you can trust that am able to read most everything you think."

"..." _Trust. That's an issue._

— _Pzeww_ —The stormtrooper had snuck one in, having secretly raised his blaster, but Luke deflects it with only mild concern. The stormtrooper gets mad and continues to rest while looking around the room again.

Luke grabs his lightsaber in his hand and focuses on the stormtrooper. The stormtrooper's blaster begins stealthily rising again, until— "Whoa!" the man yanks it back and Luke smirks. The stormtrooper moves the blaster behind him as if to protect it from the Force, then he tries focusing on maybe blasting his way out into the air shaft.

Terigo whispers to Luke, "(Hey can I try?)" Luke secretly motions the ok, so she begins concentrating. Unknown to the stormtrooper, the end of his blaster begins to raise and wobble. It takes a good long moment, but the blaster starts moving towards her, ever, so, slowly—

" _HEY!_ " —he yanks it away from her grip with all his anger— " _Lay off!_ " Luke and Terigo giggle. But now Luke, at least, begins to feel this teasing is inhumane, so he relaxes into a pose that says 'I'm done, let's go.'

Terigo senses this and says, very gently, respectfully, "Would you like to execute him this time?"

The stormtrooper's head jerks around, hoping he didn't hear what he thought he did. Luke pauses, calm. He swallows annoyed at himself for not realizing that this issue could come up if he came back. He had only thought of challenging her. But now, considering that she asked respectfully, it allowed him the chance to approach the topic, realizing it must be faced at some point. He stays perfectly calm, thinking about it with clear, unruffled emotions.

Meanwhile, the stormtrooper was getting more and more desperate for a way out. He had started racing along the room's walls to study the air vent and trips over his dead 'friend.' The dead one's blaster is knocked out from under the body and the stormtrooper gets a stupid, desperate idea.

The two Jedi feel the stormtrooper's sudden heat before they hear him roar. They snap to attention. Continuing to roar a battle cry, he rages out from behind the lockers, charging towards them, with two sets of rapid-fire blaster shots firing at them. They deflect the barrage without hovering sabers, each Jedi tackling one blaster's fire, and as the stormtrooper rages nearer, Luke waits until the last moment to deflect a shot at him.

The stormtrooper clatters to the ground, dead.

They both sheathe their lightsabers and stand without acknowledging each other for a moment. This 'execution' was merely self-defense again. Luke was hoping she wouldn't pressure him about so-called 'cheating' again, whereas _she_ was hoping that the _lack_ of pressuring him would allow him to become more accepting of the idea.

So after their essences calm, they just turn to leave.

Little did the four know, the Brigadier General had a whole emergency station in the annex... He and his men were finishing food rations and officers were gearing up while he was getting tenser, speaking into a comm station... "I will, Major General, as soon as you reset the passcodes so I can synchronize it with the attack! Sir."

Han walks into the other room where Luke, Terigo, and Chewbacca sift through Chewbacca's finds. Han, pleased with himself, says "Alright! It's done. Traps are dead and troops are locked out for good. Let's go grab some real stuff."

" _All personnel, commence emergency procedure_ Offense Jedi _immediately._

" _All personnel, commence emergency procedure_ Offense Jedi _immediately._ "

The announcement stops there and the lights begin dimming as if power is being drained from the building. Luke and Terigo immediately ignite their lightsabers, ready for anything. Luke senses into the walls and Terigo senses down the halls.

"Oh great!" Han says, "What's that mean? This one didn't give directions."

"Hopefully, with a procedure that specific to me, they won't have it drilled in yet," Luke says.

Chewbacca barks: "I thought you were changing the passcodes."

"I _did_!" Han barks back. "Maybe it's a different type of sensor," pointing to Luke's lightsaber.

And their lightsabers...

...flicker off...

"—What..." "—No..." Luke and Terigo say together, mouths gaping in horror, and Han's mouth follows. They try to reignite them, but there's not even a glimmer.

" _Let's MOVE_!" Han says. He points to Chewbacca's finds and commands, " _Grab those blasters_ , you're using your powers to _get us out of here_!"

Blasters in hand, the four make their way down hallways until— "They're coming from the annex, splitting up," Terigo says calmly, focusing.

"They're trying to surround us," Luke says, also calm and focusing.

"The backdoor is just over here," Han says.

But as they approach it, two stormtroopers come from behind a door where the Force couldn't have felt. The troops see them and stand between them and the exit, one with a large red Perk shield. They all start firing at each other but their fire bounces off the shield, as they expected, hence they had immediately ducked behind a corner while the stormtroopers charge forward.

"More perk?" Terigo says. "The red coating can't be destroyed with anything but an electric charge," and they start running. But Chewbacca stops and throws a grenade, blowing them to bits, including the shield. Luke's group gawks for a moment and Terigo adds, "Or that."

Chewbacca says something and Han barks back, "Only _two_?! Save the other one, there's too many of them and it's our only weapon against them."

"Not quite," Luke says, seeing another two turn a corner. Luke jumps into concentration mode, and an invisible tug on the shield jerks the soldier forward a foot. The stormtrooper had almost lost grip of it, but the second stormtrooper gets behind it and holds it too, oblivious to the Force's grip on it, but the two together keep it from moving. So Terigo concentrates too, and one gets dazed, letting go of the shield for just a moment before regaining mental control. She and Luke both concentrate harder, but with the distance and tension, it wears off too quickly again.

They hide behind a corner. "Wait," Luke says to Terigo, "On three. One, two, _three_." And just as they get the shield free—

"More are coming!—Luke!" Han says jerking both Jedi down the hall while Chewbacca shoots at the new ones.

Chewbacca gargles, pointing to an elevator down the way, and Han translates, "The only way is up, Chewie's scouted the building." So they get inside, cramming in next to a box cart.

Exiting on the second floor, Chewbacca pushes the box cart in the elevator's open door so it can't return to the bottom.

" _Nice one_ ," Terigo says.

"We need to hide to give our powers time," Luke says.

Chewbacca points the way but Terigo says, "Stop, there's troops down there." So they run the other way. Chewbacca gargles at this direction and Han groans: "(Great!)" while Terigo replies, "Well since it's a dead end, we can hide around here."

They run into rooms to look, and Han starts pressing buttons on the inside. "Lock every door around here and close them. They'll waste time trying to open each one before finding us."

In a hall, they discover a large hole in the wall, torn away from Luke's falling crane. They look down.

"It's too high," Han says. "We would break our legs."

Luke looks around outside and says, "And there's nothing I can pull over to break our fall, I don't have time for the crane. But it looks like there's no one guarding the annex entrance if we can make it out."

Terigo's hand jets out the hole and her lightsaber ignites from it. They all start.

" _That's_ what he meant..." she realizes. She pulls it back in the building and they watch it flicker off.

Luke says, "It's something about the building then."

"That can't help us," Han says, hurrying. "Keep moving." So they move on, except Terigo, who takes a longer thoughtful look outside.

After she's away from the hole, Terigo whispers loudly, "There's four coming. And they just split up, the shielded one went away from us, and two are coming this way slowly."

They all hide behind the corner, dead silent. Luke whispers, "(I've got the left one, in five seconds,)" and he and Terigo begin concentrating, waiting for them to get closer so to not alarm the others too much.

Han and Chewbacca count to themselves, then peak around to give cover but instead see the left one's blaster turn to himself and—pzew—And the right one theatrically points the blaster to his head, does a curtsy, and—pzew.

" _HA_ ha!" Han yells, as if he blew up the Death Star. " _Nice work_ you two. _Suckers!_ " He was clearly tickled to see them shoot themselves.

"Two more coming, too fast," Terigo says—

"We need to hide," Luke says.

They race into a packed storage closet and climb over junk of all sizes towards the back.

Except Terigo.

"They'll eventually find us," she realizes.

"But we can hold them off here," Luke says.

"We can't hold them off here forever," Terigo says, "especially if they have grenades."

"We can pick them off one by one; control the grenade throwers to give us the grenades instead."

"There's enough of them," Terigo says. "They'll learn. They'll keep their distance until they open the external doors, until they call in the outposts for backup."

Han barks, "Then what ar—"

"I'm going to lead them away," Terigo continues, without even a speck of dread. "The annex is right next to that hole. I'll jump, heal myself,—"

"(You'll _WHAT_!?)" Han quietly yells. And Luke was stricken.

"—cut my way in and pull them away so you can escape."

Han barks, "We can't _cover you_ to get you over there, they'll know we're _here_."

"So don't," Terigo says. Her look, her stance, was the embodiment of determination and invincibility.

"You know what, I think she's _bluffing_." Han was furious. "Go ahead and die for us, leave us here to die too."

She laughs as if it were a joke. "Bluffing... I take it your smuggling & gambling experience can spot a bluff a mile away, but this is a bet you've already lost."

"Oh _what_ ," Han says. "You saying you're already planning on _dying_ or you're already _dead_?"

"No. I've died before."

Han says, "Yeah right _how_."

But Luke says, " _Who_?" He wasn't concerned with the how, the how seemed possible at this point. He didn't realize, however, that he was looking for a bond more than answers now.

She presses the button to open the door then re-locks it. "My father...

"...And my brother."

Luke feels a sudden warmth in her pull just her lips into a smile.

And the door closes behind her.


	9. CHAPTER 9 -- Luke vs PERC

Chapter 9

 **LUKE VS. PERC**

* * *

MUFFLED CHAOS is heard through the walls of the storage room as Luke focuses on sensing Terigo. The other two sit silent for a long moment trying to decipher what the noises were, if she had been shot or...

The chaos suddenly dies down to near-silence and their breathing resumes again.

"I can still feel her," Luke says. "I think she made it outside, and she's still alive—there hasn't been a sudden scattering of her essence." Luke changes from focusing on her to focusing deeply on thinking.

Han says, "I say you use your mind powers to make them leave us alone, then we sneak out when everything dies down."

Luke doesn't seem to like the idea, still working on solutions. He says, "I _was_ going to control one of their minds to say this room is empty, but they travel in pairs. I can't affect two. I also thought about making one shoot the other, then either leave or shoot himself, but that would only last a few minutes at _best_ before they discover the missing troops. Then there's also doing the same to take their armor for a disguise, but that doesn't get Chewie out of here. There's so many options, but none of them would really work, yet we can't just stay here. There's no way she can take on that many men by herself."

"I hate to say this but maybe she can," Han says, "she seemed to think she could survive the jump."

"No... We can't let her die." _No one else should suffer for me._ With her revealing new clues about herself, Luke's competitive side was overshadowed by his morality. He wanted to save someone noble enough—Jedi enough—to sacrifice herself. He wanted to save someone who has suffered. He wanted to save _someone_ for once. And his morality was also equally followed by his curiosity once more. _Her deaths..._

The door hisses open. Two stormtroopers come in, cautiously, listening, blasters rigid 'n' ready. It gives Luke time to concentrate. With incredible luck, the stormtroopers split up. They each search one side of the room, and when one gets close to them, Luke sways that one's mind to say, "This side's clear."

The stormtroopers step out, but only just past the door, and they leave it open. "This whole end is clear," one informs troops down the hall. They patrol around aimlessly, awaiting orders, guarding that end of the hall. They start to chat between themselves, still tense from being on alert and no doubt yelled at.

Luke's group can just barely hear them, though it helps that they were raising their voices, trying to control their anger, "Where does he get off blaming _us_? We tried shooting her body to confirm, but we're too high up to hit. It's _their fault_ for not getting to her soon enough."

 _So she did jump,_ the three all think.

The other stormtrooper replies, "Yeah and he still doesn't have a protocol for determining if a Jedi has controlled our mind, or if a Jedi is even controlling _his_ mind, giving _us_ orders."

"Yeah for all we know, _all_ these rooms could have Jedi in them. That's probably how they got in."

The other scoffs, "I wish Cicatrice would come back already, otherwise the whole Offense Jedi BS is nothing but a big red machine."

 _That's a weird thing to say_ , Luke thinks.

Then they storm off to patrol further down the hall.

Luke whispers, "I think they were going to anyways, but I had them leave the door open on purpose so I could sense the area better. And so other troops will be less likely to search the room again because they'll know it's already been searched. So now I need silence to focus on the area."

Han half-sighs with a constricted chest. Chewbacca tries to get his lumbering body comfortable in his tiny hiding space.

...Luke's mind begins to become one with the spaces around him...

The air—like water, and his essence—like electricity in it...

tingling... touching... connecting...

with every wall... every sensor... every body...

omnipresent... omniscient... and... maybe someday... omnipotent.

Luke comes out of his trance serene, if not with the softness of an all-knowing god. He says, "Some have left to another part of the building, and I know what to do."

The two stormtroopers down the hall _start_ as one of their blasters is ripped from their hand and flung down the hall. The other blaster does too before they know what hit them. " _Contact! Sir, enemy contact!_ My—uh—A blaster is floating at us, the enemy's still around here!"

" _Floating_ at you?!" the captain yells over their helmet comlink, saying it as if floating was a childish thing to be afraid of.

"Pointing at us, sir."

One indeed was. Luke was hovering the blaster ten feet away and keeps the barrel pointed accurately at one of the stormtrooper's bobbing heads.

"Stay where you are," the captain commands the two troops.

"Yes sir," they reply. But the one not being aimed at doesn't stay still. He had almost shown fear for the eerie thing, but then his ruthless training kicks in. He gets to the side of one wall and points to the other stormtrooper to get to the other side, putting maximum distance between them. He tries to make a break for it but the blaster fires. It misses, shooting behind him. It wasn't able to turn in time, but it was enough to startle him into stopping. The other stormtrooper gets the hint and tries to run past too, and the blaster shoots again, missing. Then like red light green light, they try a few more times, but the blaster was already zooming backwards so it wouldn't have to turn as much to aim accurately.

A minute later, two stormtroopers with red Perk shields appear side by side down the hall with eight stormtroopers behind them. Two of the troops were lieutenants, one with a red shoulder-patch and the other blue. They all march down the T-junction hallway approaching the blaster at the junction, seeing it pointing down the right hall of the T.

One of the two stormtroopers calls out from the right hallway, "Sir, we're down here, it's pushing us into the hallway—" as the blaster makes another herding shot.

"Then they're down the left hall," the red-patch lieutenant informs. He commands, "Shields: attack!"

The shielded stormtroopers shoot at it but it was already moving into the right hall to hide. As the new stormtroopers follow the shielded troops forward, one of the two stormtroopers from the right hall makes a battle-roar. He charges at the blaster now that it was facing away from him, grabs it, holds on tight, and calls "Secure! Secure! Blaster is secure—"

"All men, head down the left hallway!" the red lieutenant commands. " _Tight grip_ on your blasters!"

When they stop at the first room, Chewbacca's grenade floats down from hovering in a ceiling nook at the beginning of the left hallway. Most of them all start, realizing they're trapped.

The grenade hovers towards them and pushes them further into the dead-end hall, except the stormtrooper that braved the blaster. He stands flat up against the wall like before—

"Don't you _DARE_!" commands the red lieutenant.

The grenade zooms over to block him from sneaking by, so he joins the others. The red lieutenant's head whips over to glare at the blue lieutenant for having an unruly soldier, knowing his glare couldn't be seen under his helmet. But the blue one returns the glare, he wasn't stupid enough not to know a hidden glare when he sees one.

Han, Chewbacca, and Luke start climbing down from hiding, but Luke—serene, eyes closed—takes his time. Unlike training with the rocks, he had to focus on more than just footing and the grenade: the stormtroopers as well.

Chewbacca keeps his crossbow aimed at the door while Han's anxiously helps Luke. Given Han's anxiety, he was trying ever-so-gently to guide Luke's footing without being too rough or loud, as if Luke were a blind bomb.

The stormtroopers reflexively raise their blasters in perfect unison as Chewbacca's head peeks out the door behind the bomb. The bomb had started to zoom back and forth randomly so the stormtroopers couldn't shoot past it. Chewbacca steps out, chin-nods the ok, and Han comes out, carrying Luke.

And for some reason, both Han and Chewbacca felt it appropriate to tiptoe.

"He's _unarmed_ sir!" says the blaster-grabbing stormtrooper, so disrespectfully too. And now the rest of the stormtroopers feel just as furious, being belittled by watching weak enemies tiptoe away.

Now _blue_ lieutenant and the stormtrooper exchange words quickly:

"AT-105."

" _Sir._ "

"Here's your _chance. Prove yourself._ "

"SIR!" with obedience and confidence.

Han whispers, " _Do it now Do It Now DO IT NOW._ "

As the three start turning the corner, AT-105 aims his blaster to shoot and starts charging forward—

KABOOM!

Han nearly drops Luke from the shockwave but he sets him down anyways with relief.

"You didn't have to carry me," Luke says. It would have been a more scolding tone if he had not been calmed by the trance.

"Like I wanted to—Why didn't you say so—"

"I couldn't," Luke says, "doing both would have required too much concentration on top of the distraction of being moved around."

As they hurry down the hall, they pass the first blaster that Luke disarmed, and it flies to his hand with what would look like little to no attention to it.

They cautiously make their way downstairs as Luke senses and the other two guard him. Heading to the nearest exit, Han goes to push the open-button but pauses.

"You know," Han says, "we don't know what's waiting to shoot at us on the other side of these doors. We need a shield, or your sword."

"Or Terigo, I can't sense her on this side," Luke mumbles. "Maybe the other exit is cut into. (Maybe she's in already.)" He looks in that direction, thinking. Worrying. "But I'll try to get past this one, the crevices seem big enough."

After a long moment, Luke says, "There _were_ two that ran by, in a hurry. Otherwise only one twenty feet back, but I couldn't get into his mind to make him move, not with only a crevice to seep through."

"Why do you need crevices anyways, you didn't have any problem nagging me about space junk flying at us."

"It's..." Luke says, searching for words, "a different type of essence; inanimate and animate. It's like... A different fuel or power current is all I can compare it to," and he looks impatient for Han to open the door already.

"Well anyways," Han says, bringing his finger to the door button. "Three to one. You ready?" But he barely waits for a confirmation before pressing the button— "Arg! It—" pressing it again. "It's locked." He starts putting in a code to override it, but— "The override code—They must have changed the codes!"

"The General," Luke says. "We haven't come across him yet. He's the key, literally. I can make him unlock the doors."

Han grumbles "Like he won't be well-guarded..." but he waves an 'ok let's go.'

They reach the annex and Luke sends his essence through the door-to-wall crevice, but—

"He's not there, no one is," Luke says.

"Or maybe he was never there," Han says. "Maybe Terigo just left to join them again and trap us inside..." but he wasn't that serious.

"Anyways," Luke says, annoyed that Han would joke like that. But now Luke was concerned that even he himself didn't know if that could be true. "Maybe he's with the rest of the troops," and motions to follow him.

They approach an open door to a hall that Luke quietly says is no good. He whispers, "Traps," so they rush by. As they do, he sees red in a room through the trapped hall, just as stormtroopers open a door in that room and see him. The stormtroopers call to each other and start running towards Luke who shoots and once the troops enter the trapped hall, the door to it closes, and he hears muffled shots and stormtroopers yelling, so he looks back. The hall behind the door goes quiet, and Luke senses no one alive inside.

He looks to a confused Han & Chewbacca and says, "Traps got 'em. I _knew_ they wouldn't have everything memorized. That might be all of them too, but stay sharp. None of them looked like a General. But I thought I saw an extra shield in the room past that trapped hall. It would certainly help us get out of here, especially through traps." Luke sees it's obvious that Han wants his hands on one. "So let's go around."

From another way, they enter the room with the red but find that it's not a shield, it's a thing. Humming.

"Some sort of..."

"What is it?"

Chewbacca points at a part of it and Han replies, "Yeah but what kind of power transmitter have you ever seen that looks like _this_?"

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Luke says. "I think this room is the center of the building, making this thing perfect for transmitting or affecting the entire building. And do you remember what those two stormtroopers said about a, a red—"

"A big red machine, yeah," Han says. "Well it's covered in that red Perk stuff, so that can only mean they don't want it shot at."

"Then how... Terigo said something about—"

"An electric charge," Han says. "Leia assured me that her raid of the Inverse Sea would work, and it did, because they had information that confirmed the red coating would fry with electromagnetic pulse bombs. She had me 'borrow' those bombs for her until her people can make their own. That and if _I_ did it, no one would know she suddenly had them, giving _her_ the upper hand. Anyway," looking back at the machine.

"Well, the thing's clearly important," Luke says, and both he and Han start examining it and the room. Luke continues, "But we can't rip it out to take it with us to study," trying to jiggle it, "and it can't possibly be doing us any good here—if it's not the reason our lightsabers won't work. We should find a way to destroy it, or come back to destroy it, or maybe see what Leia's people have to say about—"

BAM—In the humming silence of the building, Luke and Han jerk back around to see that Chewbacca slammed the thing with a heavy chair. He does it again, and again, and again, and—

Luke's lightsaber flickers the tiniest bit, just once—

"Whoa!" Luke yells. "Hold on!" and he removes the hilt from his belt lightning-quick so it doesn't slice his leg.

"Well that proves it," Han says, "keep it up! That's our best chance out of here!"

So Chewbacca continues, but the chair breaks, and there wasn't even a dent in the red thing, much less any more saber flickering.

"Too thick, even for you," Han says.

Chewbacca tries using the broken chair part to scrape the red stuff off, but the plasma component of it keeps it intact like rubber. Chewbacca throws the chair part at the thing and yells at it, insulted by not being stronger than something.

Han wonders, "Wait, why would they use Perk if blasters couldn't do more than Chewie's arm?"

"That _is_ weird, huh," Luke says. "I don't know, maybe they can. Or there's another reason for it."

"Well a pulse bomb _would_ fry the thing either way. We'll go find one, and we still need to find the General, or something else to get out," Han sighs.

"And Terigo," Luke mumbles. "I feel her moving all over outside... I'll sense around, hang tight for a while," Luke says. He sits and closes his eyes to go into a trance.

"While you do that," Han says, "Chewie and I will look around with our eyes for anything. Maybe they've left a shield or grenade lying around, away from traps."

" _No_ ," Luke says, alarmed. "We need to stay _together_ , they could—"

"Come in from outside?—No kiddin'," Han says. "But the longer we stay here, the sooner that'll happen. We're not going far. We'll stay where we can still hear you. We're not stupid enough to run off like her."

Luke tries to reply but realizes his own teeth were clenching with Dark emotions. Anger and fear. So he closes his eyes again to try and start the trance, to calm his anxiety over letting them out of his sight.

Han takes that as a reply and the two of them leave to let Luke be.

Spreading his awareness throughout the building again, Luke keeps his essence around Han and Chewbacca, to scout for them. He does this for a while before he senses further than them. He sends his awareness to the other exit door, hoping maybe he could sense Terigo cutting through—until he realizes to be careful of what you wish for—

Luke jumps up, blaster ready, and yells: " _The exit opened! They're coming in!—_ "

But the doors to Luke's room hiss shut...

Luke stands paralyzed with shock and rage. He charges over to one of the doors and hits buttons, "HAN!" _Calm down calm down, deep breaths deep breaths, meditate, ease—HAN!—NO stop, deep breaths, focus on breathing, nothing exists but breathing—_

A bang on the door and "Luke! They're coming..." and Han's voice trails off as he runs away.

Luke's breath stops again and now the rage of helplessness grabs him. He whips around looking frantically, _a way out, a way out, a way to destroy this thing!_ — _CALM YOURSELF!_ — _YELLING AT YOURSELF is not calming. Now calm yourself, breathe, breathe, anger is weakness, anger is_ weakness _, nothing good comes of anger, nothing good..._

 _..._

 _No..._

 _No, don't even consider it—But Han and Chewbacca—No! Not even once! Not even a little! Who's to say a little could even kill this thing, who's to say creating a little wouldn't require more than just a little of the Dark Side. Who's to say I could even come back from just a little... like her. But she—No STOP! Now you're letting COMPETITIVENESS cloud your thinking! Forget her! Forget what she can do... But she can do it. And my father returned too. It CAN be done. Someone CAN create lighting without losing themselves to the Dark Side. It can be DONE! I have to try! I have to TRY!_

 _But how, what can I think about, what causes me fear—no, hatred. Her, no, not her, her words, what she's said. That I'm a kid, a child, a weakling ill-bred uneducated Jedi dreamer, a failure, that I failed to save my father, truly save him, that I can't see him again because of that, without the pain pulling me into the Dark Side, even looking at my hand—how I lost my hand to him because I was too weak—This hand, this inhuman inanimate machine, this thing that only works well when I hate it... only when I hate... only hatred... never, never when I'm happy. It never works when I'm training with Leia, it never lets me be happy, mocking me, reminding me—This thing on me is nothing but hatred and pain—No wonder my father was so feared, his mechanical body must have functioned like a GOD with that much suffering in him. And then... no wonder he died, when he felt the first bit of happiness that he must have felt in ages. The first time he felt_ human _, his_ in _human body failed. Was it really the Emperor's lightning that destroyed his body, or did_ I _cause it to fail?—by trying to save him. Either way I killed him, I killed him, because I was too WEAK TO SAVE HIM!_

" _TO SAVE ANYBODY!_ " he yells aloud.

And a spark flickers from his cybernetic finger.

 **•** **‹•› |•|**

Han and Chewbacca run from shooting stormtroopers, but the two dart into a closet when they see more coming from the other side. They shoot blindly around the corner but don't dare to stick anything out other than their blaster tip. There were just too many shots coming from both sides.

Han hears them getting closer, and doesn't see a way out of this one, so he stops shooting and yells, "I GIVE UP I GIVE UP! I surrender!" He holds his blaster out and upside-down by his pinky, then he holds out his other hand. "Han _Solo_ surrendering here!"

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" a lieutenant commands, and all enemies stop.

Han was already tossing his blaster out carefully. He had been through this sort of thing plenty before. But even tossing it gently spooked one of the stormtroopers into shooting a reflexive shot at him. Han yells, "HEY you're shooting at very VALUABLE _RANSOM_ property here ya know. Princesses Leia would pay for a new _Death Star_ for _my_ head!" but he mumbles to Chewbacca: "Maybe. Though I'd kinda wish they just shoot me rather than grind me for information."

Then Han sees a yellow streak fly behind the stormtroopers as two of them fall down with the sound of blaster fire. Shots fire to-and-fro the right group as they all yell, as the left group races over to secure Han. Han holds his hands up even higher and slides closer to the closet, hoping they don't think he's involved in some sort of ambush.

Shots soon fire from the backside of the troops near Han, taking down two more. The others run off, leaving only two to guard Han and Chewbacca.

Well... Two were no match for one Wookie...

"Spared their arms, did ya?" Han says.

The sound of shots suddenly stop, but the sound of running footsteps did not, and it was coming towards their closet.

Terigo races by them and nearly slams into the nearby wall to stop herself. Her yellow cowl was drenched in sweat. Her back slides down the wall, but she manages to keep herself up, panting words, "Been running, whole time. If stay moving, can't catch you. But these blasters, take all the fun out of this work," and her whole face grins a thrilled, sly grin.

Han didn't know what to think, or whether to squeeze her or scold her.

She stands up straight off the wall and becomes more serious. She readies her blaster, "I got thirty two, but there's still more. Where's Luke?" asking with a hopeful smile, then her smile drops.

 **•** **‹•› |•|**

Luke roars " _—and if it was this easy to turn, did I even have a CHANCE AT SAVING HIM!_ " His hand slams down on the red machine and lightning spreads over it from his cybernetic hand.

The red coating sizzles, bubbles, and browns. Luke takes his lightsaber in hand and tries it. It only flickers an inch before shutting off. He roars at the machine and tries his saber again, placing the hilt's opening to the machine. He turns it on again and again, getting angrier with it, and the spot melts a little, and a little, and a little more, until—

Pssshhhew—psssssss—The inside of the machine glows green and steams and sparks and melts. The room's lights un-dim, but Luke doesn't notice as he drives his blade back and forth, pushing harder, and harder as more of the machine melts away.

And when his blade finally cuts it down, he sees the door Han left from. He charges to it and thrusts his blade into it with all his anger.

But cutting his way out only gets himself shot at.

Four stormtroopers hold their blasters on him, and they see eyes they had only seen in a Sith Lord. They threaten to shoot again, and Luke stands still, glaring into them. Much like he did in the previous mission, he turns off his lightsaber, and drops it. He raises his hands...

...above his head...

...as if to surrender...

...but he uses the invisible power to slowly pull his hood over his head...

...covering his eyes...

 **•** **‹•› |•|**

The lights un-dim throughout the building and Han, Chewbacca, and Terigo look up at it.

Terigo whips out her lightsaber and her smile grows brighter with its yellow glow.

"Let's go!" she commands, and she starts running with the boys charging behind her.

They enter a T-junction hall and see stormtroopers straight ahead. With the whip-spin of her blade, Terigo deflects their fire while Han and Chewbacca duck left to shoot behind Terigo. She goes after them while Chewbacca stays with Han who had heard other sounds down the left hall behind him. The two cautiously rush towards it and they hear Luke yell—

"—a proper _execution_!"

Turning the corner, Han sees a stormtrooper down a hall get sliced three ways before hitting the ground.

Han starts at the sight.

Bodies fill the hall. But in the back of Han's mind, there was something odd about these bodies. It was as if it only looked like there were more of them than there really were. In reality, they weren't all bodies, just heads, arms, charred armor, everywhere, surrounding a hooded stranger holding Luke's lightsaber, fuming and pacing in the center of them.

"Luke," Han calls, but his voice was unsure of what tone to take.

With fierce breathing, fighting his rage, sorrow, guilt, fear, all of it, conflicted, beyond the brim, "STAY AWAY HAN!" He points his blade at him, then paces away. He takes a few more large breaths, but they weren't meant to calm. "YOU LEFT WHEN I ORDERED YOU NOT TO," doing a 180 to swing his fist at him with his saber still lit. Then he grips his hooded head to help resist looking at him, "AND LOOK WHAT YOU DID! This is YOUR FAULT!" But now he cowers under his hood, "And it's MY FAULT!" —swinging his hand out to release lightning— "It's _not_ your fault, but you DID THIS to me! No _I did this_ , but you LEFT ME NO CHOICE!"

The lightning made Han jump back, despite it being two-hundred feet away. He had never seen such magic, yet he knew in an instant that it couldn't have come from Luke's lightsaber. Han stood there, flooded with confusion, worry, fear, doom. Words barely fall from his gaping—nearly shaking mouth, "...What...?"

" _Han_ ," Terigo says discreetly. She was now a ways behind him as if hiding from Luke. She motions for Han to come over and speaks without much emotion, except for a tiny bit of hope and worry, "This is... He's... not himself. The Force... It's like it's attacking him. The Force affects emotions and thoughts, outside the body and inside. So inside a Force-sensitive individual, it can multiply emotions or completely change them without reason, despite whatever reason it makes us believe. It can even cause our emotions to overpower us and turn them against us. He's trying to fight against it from turning him completely Dark, like the Sith."

"So what," Han whispers hoarsely, "are you saying he might turn into _Vader_?" But he had apparently whispered the V word too loud.

"Don't you call _my father that_ , you _bastard_!" Luke yells and takes a step as if to charge him, but he spins his momentum in the other direction.

As always, Han retorts before he thinks, "Do you talk to _Leia with that mouth_!?—"

 _Leia_ , Luke thinks.

"( _Stop_ ,)" Terigo says to Han between her teeth, shushing him.

"— _She_ still calls him that but I've never heard _you_ c—"

" _(STOP,)_ " she says louder and with harder clenched teeth.

" _What!_ I'm trying to talk him down."

"No you're not, you're insulted and taking it out on him when he's hurt."

Guilt smacks Han's anger down a notch. _And she read that like Leia does,_ he thinks. He redirects his anger onto her, "Well, I don't see _you_ doing anything to help him—"

"Yes I am."

"What with your _mind_?"

"No, by letting him fight it _alone_." She had whispered it with much strength behind it, along with so many other feelings. But with Han so angry, all he could see was her ruthless determination, not her dire hope fueling it.

He looks to Luke, then to her, at a loss of what to do. It was such a rare feeling for him. He had always known what to do, even if it was wrong, even if it meant to run, even if it meant to die trying; he only had himself to lose. But this was different.

"You two can't always be there to save him," Terigo continues.

Han just stood helpless, ready to attack or run or what, he didn't know. He just stood afraid _of_ and afraid _for_ what powerful horrible magic was happening to Luke.

Meanwhile, at the mention of Leia, Luke's burning essence had been pierced with ice, and the two become a torrent in his mind—rage and despair. _Leia, no, I've failed you—_ His fists writhe along the spine of his head as his lightsaber sears his hood and hair, as tears collect in his eyes.

 _And it was too easy. Had you been hurt in front of me, I would have so easily turned to save you—and if you were killed, what would I have become!? But I_ am _turned. Leia hasn't even been_ harmed _and I am_ suffocated _by the pain—She tells me not to worry—If she saw me—No she can't see me like this—She would become—I have to protect her from this—She can't see me like this, ever—Breathe you weakling, breathe, breathe..._

He sheathes his blade into the hilt but his tight fists refuse to let go... _Relax, loosen your muscles—but keep your eyelids closed, don't look at your friends, you'll remember them, clear your mind, disconnect, forget them, feelings for them don't exist, they don't exist, no one exists, nothing exists, nothing, nothing but breathing, breathe, breathe... breathe..._

 _...breathe..._

...He points his face to the ceiling to rest his head...

...and his hood slowly...

...slowly...

...slides off...

Han and Chewbacca had begun to relax when they see the change in Luke. They see his breathing and tenseness and face become neutral and empty. Terigo continues to stand calm behind Han, casually trying to stay out of view from Luke. She didn't want him to see her and cause him irreversible Darkness. Her eyes had stayed _sharply_ attached to him, trying to judge his internal battle without allowing her essence's automatic connection to interfere.

Luke returns his face forward, but he stands as if he were a sleeping statue. Han stands just as still, feeling Luke was more of a delicate bomb now than when he was carrying him.

Luke doesn't move, and after a moment, Terigo's chest lets out a tiny sigh. Her sigh catches her off-guard because she hadn't noticed she had become more tense than her Mid mood usually allows. But Chewbacca notices her sudden relief and looks to her for an answer, hoping her relief meant Luke was now safe. Han sees Chewbacca look to Terigo, so he looks to her too, waiting for directions.

She says calmly, "Though all the unarmed staff seemed to have fled, I believe we've taken out all the troops. All the outposts were called in, and with a base this new and top-notch, I doubt there's any second-rate soldiers hiding in fear. I can't speak for any still on-guard inside the buildings though, but I can do a whole scan if we decide to stay."

" _Stay_...?" Han says. The thought hadn't occurred to him. It seemed insane, but suddenly... it was like he was surrounded by treasure. "The General—Did you take him out? Otherwise he'll just lock us up—er—" _lightsabers work now "_ —He'll activate more traps or—"

"He's probably still in the annex," she says. "I'll go—"

"He's not, Luke checked."

"Hm," she says. Her empty tone starts to warm up after this point. It turns into a tone of a gentle mother. "I'm guessing he just couldn't find him. He was behind a second door a ways down. I'll go check. If he's there, I'll get the codes again and take care of him, detain him. If not, I'll let you know and then try to find him." She lets them absorb that and sees their bewildered agreement. She looks back to Luke and says to Han and Chewbacca, "You should be safe here for now, if you're ok with staying and watching Luke. When I come back, I can support him so you can explore as much as you would like. Is that alright?" The faintest of friendly smirks appears on her face from knowing how much he would love to explore this smuggler's paradise.

He almost smiles too from the idea of exploring, and from being grateful for her help. "Ye—Yeah...Th..." He had almost said 'thanks.' Nothing was getting in the way of saying thanks, not his ego or anxiety or distrust. But he just needed time to absorb everything.

"Ok," Terigo says. She takes a long last look at Luke then speaks quietly to Han so that Luke can't hear, "As for Luke... Until he behaves like normal again—(which I don't know when that would be, it's up to him)—it would help him most to give him space and give him everything he asks for. He needs as little to think about as possible, and...

"...let him do all the talking."

Han nods and confirms with a murmur, agreeing on what it takes to be a true supportive friend.

"Thank you," Terigo says. "You're a good friend."

Han looks away. He didn't know how to take sincere compliments if it wasn't something he could boast about, and this was not the time for boasting.

Terigo says, "Whatever he thought you did to cause this, it's not your fault. It's no one's fault. The Darkness of the Force was making him feel that way. It's just part of the danger we face."

Han's eyes dart back to her. She quickly looks to her destination to politely prevent him from being embarrassed by accidental eye-contact.

As Terigo rushes off, Han looks to Luke for a last moment of concern before turning to Chewbacca. He motions to the silence, saying,"(I suppose this makes the talking part easy for us,)" but he realizes immediately—much to his dismay—that it would be cruel to try to joke this problem away like his usual troubles.


	10. CHAPTER 10 -- Past The Void

Chapter 10

 **PAST THE VOID**

* * *

SCATTERED ANCIENT RUINS peek out from the dark shroud of a dust storm as the sun rises behind it. From the rooftop, Luke and Terigo silently watch this ever-present danger in the grey morning light. Even though they knew that answers must be out there in the ruins, they decide to stay safe within the calm void of the base. At least here they couldn't be torn apart by the dark storm.

They were both calm, void of emotion. They sit on the edge of the roof, two feet apart, with the last bits of breakfast beside them. After watching the storm for quite some time, Luke closes his eyes to meditate.

He takes a long breath through the nose and says, "I apologize if you feel the need to watch over me, but I don't wish to keep you here. I may need to continue to stay up here for some time. I will not be leaving this Middle... Side..." Saying 'Mid' was too unfamiliar, but saying just 'Middle' didn't feel right either. So Luke felt he had to add 'Side', but now he was certain Terigo would retort with a correction... But she doesn't. So now it only felt right to be polite by using her term, as if it was rewarding her for _her_ politeness. And her term didn't sound as strange, just unfamiliar. "I will not be leaving the _Middle_ until I'm sure I'm clear of the Dark Side."

Luckily he didn't see her almost roll her eyes, or sense her think ' _That's unreasonable. It could take years_.'

He takes another long breath and continues, "I can see why you like to use the Middle to the depth that you do. It's safe here, in this state... There's nothing here but logic. No emotions, no ego, no sense of self, no attachment to memories, no attachments _period_... Just... nothing... It's a perfect Jedi state."

Terigo looks away from the storm to look further away from Luke. She says, "I _don't_ like it. And it's not perfect, at least we—I—don't consider it to be. It's just a last resort, a temporary fix."

"Well," Luke says, "Yoda was perfect, or at least he was the best of the Jedi."

"Was he happy?" Terigo says. "Are you happy? In the Mid."

Luke knew his answer was ' _I'm not happy regardless_ ,' but answers, "I can't risk—"

Terigo interrupts gently, "Do, you feel any emotion? Or just a droid-like servitude; an empty will to protect people that you have to clear your mind of."

 _Maybe that's what it takes_ , Luke thinks. _Pure devotion to the galaxy. Detachment from yourself; sacrifice your needs entirely, to fulfill the needs of others._

"Well," Terigo says, and straightens her cowl, "it seems contradictory to me: wanting to stay in the Mid to protect friends, but friendships don't exist in that state." She stands up, and cheers up a little with a new thought. "I'm going to see if the guys have decided on their plans for today. They may want more information pulled from the General, and I'd like to explore the ruins. Would you like me to bring you up anything? I can see if Chewie found any decent snacks for later."

Luke was caught up with her previous words about contradiction, "...I don't know."

So she heads inside.

.

Luke was wandering through the base's metal forest of ancient ruins when Terigo found him again. He was still in the void of the Mid, so he was as much of a statue as the stones around him.

He turns his ear to her to acknowledge he heard her arrive, but he continues to study a decayed stone sign without facing her.

"Catch," she says, tossing something to his back.

He turns and catches a small brick with one hand with his eyes closed, then he looks at what he caught. He happens to see her content smile before turning back around.

Terigo says, "The only snack in the whole base is either the stormtrooper's dried clay paste, or that," motioning to what she threw him, "the officers' dried meat paste. I suppose they consider the meat paste an upgrade, something worth fighting for."

"Thank you," Luke mumbles, and he puts it in his belt pouch. He waits a moment longer before saying, "I noticed you haven't been in my mind since then. You're not connecting your essence to me. Have I disappointed you even further now," he states rather than ask. There was a fine layer of scorn and disappointment in his otherwise tranquil tone.

"No," Terigo says, "Even though Han half-cheated you by mentioning Leia, the rest you did on your own. I read you wanted space, so I didn't want to be disrespectful by connecting. If you wish for me to leave..."

Luke pauses, pauses for a while, thinking about many things. But Terigo was unable to read all of it, especially when he was this still and with his face turned away.

So she starts to leave. Better safe than sorry—

"No," Luke says. "Not yet."

Terigo's resting smile loosens with the rest of her, relieved. She waits for Luke to say why, but he seems to return his thoughts to the ruins. So she takes the chance to do so as well.

She takes a good look around and wanders only within earshot, respectfully keeping her distance from Luke. Surrounding them were metal pillars of varying height and strength, making mostly unrecognizable fragments of structures. All of it looked like the remnants of supports. Most fragments were fallen and eaten by acid, making them look like spikey heaps, and the ground was colored deep brown from leftover melted metals. A unique thirty-foot-tall support had withstood both the acid and dust storms. It was built stronger. But some buildings seemed to have disappeared completely. With the deep browns, reddish soil, burgundy shadows, and accents of rust; some might call it beautiful, something any artist would love to paint.

She glances at him moving his finger across carved words on what could have been a decorative sign, so she comments on it, "It's interesting... how _that_ one survived the acid rain. It looks like the other support-structures were made out of different types of stone and metal—or metal parts—whereas these... invisible buildings" —smirking at the idea— "and blank sections of wallsmust have been wood or a weak metal or such. They're too clear cut to be anything else."

"How did you die?" Luke says.

Terigo blinks, and her smile flickers with many different emotions. Without her essence sensing what Luke was thinking, she felt a little blind—disadvantaged for however long he forbade her. Vulnerable even. But she welcomed the challenge.

Luke eyes her quickly to gage her reaction, but he couldn't tell what she was thinking either. He initially thought that her hesitation meant she felt it was a rude thing to suddenly ask. _Did I... No. It would have been rude with anyone else, but she told_ us _about it; she said her people are open, without judgment or fear._

So Luke clarifies, "Regardless of whether I'll be using this Middle state permanently or not, I still need to continually train my ability. So I can stay in it or revert to it, especially in battle. I need resistance to train, I need words that would cause emotion or harm." He cautiously looks at her eyes for a moment.

On the subject of her deaths, warm memories seem to fill her. And anxiety... that she smacks away with pitiless determination. She continues in good spirits, being pleased to speak openly. "Well... Where to start...? I'm curious: How does one become a Jedi of the Mid?"

Luke pauses a moment to relish in Yoda's words on becoming a Jedi. He thinks about his time with him, and mourns his own trial with his father. "You must take action to sacrifice your own life for the greater good. To be prepared to, I mean."

Terigo looks further away and sighs to herself thoughtfully, "Sacrifice..." She looks back to the rock Luke was touching and speaks to him, "Apparently, only the Light believes there is no reason to sacrifice anything. Instead, we gain. We pull each other together."

Luke's head tilts ever so slightly to wait for an explanation.

Terigo continues, "The final ritual—or main ritual—in Sith training requires the Dark user to kill the one they love most. Well, the same is true for the Light..." and she glances at his eyes to say:

"...And then we bring them back," smiling proudly.

Luke's eyes widen and his brows pinch just a hair, making brief eye contact.

Terigo looks to the ruins and continues, "Empathy, connection, love, and happiness. These are what fuel the Light's power. So the love we have for someone can be used to resurrect them—or others—if it's strong enough. So for our final ritual, if you don't care deeply enough for them, they will stay dead. And you can't fake it. After you're successful, you then know that the love is strong enough to use to resurrect others..."

Her teeth clench together with a fierceness behind her genuine smile. She says, "And it helps if the death is painful too. It's a true test, in many ways. To cause your loved one that much pain, plus see them in pain. And if the loved one is a Jedi apprentice too, it helps them overcome great physical pain." She subconsciously rubs her side, remembering.

Luke tries to absorb this, remaining speechless. She gives him a moment, but he poses no questions out-loud, just internal questions of wanting to hear more.

As Terigo continues, her voice tends to choke on the switch of present to past tense, "My father loves—loved me more than others in the family, on purpose, so we could keep them alive if he failed his final test. It took great emotional training on all our parts to support him in this, and he succeeded. Afterwards, because my brother was being trained by our more experienced great-grandfather, I needed more dire training than he did to keep up. So my father and I both agreed that all contact between us—my father and I—should abruptly stop. He knew it would be good training against feeling the inevitable losses of death. And we were all happy he got to focus on the rest of the family more after me.

"Because I was able to keep up with my brother, our love was always strong. We were like one being, so I was naturally his choice for his final test. Every one of our generations had become a Jedi at a younger and younger age, so... he succeeded by resurrecting me. He is truly..." and Luke could feel her essence suddenly freeze even without connecting to her. She chokes out "was..." then she swallows and quickly corrects the word to: "is... He is alive... in my heart." She seems to say the last part to herself and continues to say it in her mind, as well as being suddenly interested in her cowl.

 _So her sense of invincibility_ isn't _insanity; she_ has _felt the pain of death._ And Luke mulls over everything she's said before he asks, "So you've killed someone, to become a Jedi—"

"No," nearly choking on the word, and taking a large swallow before continuing immediately, "No, I haven't. I'm no Jedi," she smiles, or tries to. She seems distracted by thoughts. "My path to become a Jedi must be different."

Luke tries to read her. He even sends his essence to feel her. He senses hot sparks that seem to thrust heat over cold rocks that feel like they're freezing everything over. Then it all goes still; turning tepid; turning into the Mid.

His concerns rise. He was onto something. "Why? Why must your path be different?"

Terigo turns from him to force her attention to the ruins, and says nothing.

Luke figures, "Because you have no one left to—"

" _Because_ it will give me a chance to learn something new, to grow," Terigo says, void of emotion.

To Luke's essence, it almost felt like a lie. _And was she whispering again?_ Or was it the sound of wind blowing frail rust. Regardless, his concerns for himself were being overthrown by his curiosity. That and he was concerned if her secrets could harm his friends.

"Terigo..." Luke says, and though she doesn't appear to have heard him, he continues. "There's something very important I forgot to ask you about..."

No acknowledgement.

"How is it that you can create lightning when you claim to be of your Light Side?"

No acknowledgement. And she starts walking away. She touches the ruins as she goes by, and her other hand fidgets with her cowl.

Luke follows and takes a deep breath to calm his rising concerns. "You said your path must be different. Does that mean you failed? Or—"

" _No_ ," and she leaps up rocks. She reaches building sections embedded into a hillside and continues walking away.

Luke leaps up too, picking up the pace to keep up, "Does that mean you can only master the Dark Side now?"

She says a sentence but Luke couldn't hear, and she continues to talk to herself. She seems to try to study these embedded buildings because they look more intact from being shielded from acid rain.

"Terigo! Why are you running away," and he forces a calming breath through his nose.

She halts, and stands there, stiff, if not angry. Her tepid essence was breached by several hot sparks on the word 'running.' Then it turns dead again.

Luke catches up and stands in front of her, looking hard into her eyes. But she looks unwavering into his chest.

She says, "I'm not sure it's safe for me to explain."

Luke says, "It's as safe for me now as any time. I've kept myself in the Middle the entire time since then. Even now I'm calm with these concerns. So if it could endanger me or my friends in other ways, I need to know. _What are you hiding from me_?"

He feels a sudden spark in her and sees she's offended. Her eyes dart to his then back down. She says, "I'm not hiding it from _you_. I meant it's not safe _for me_ if I explain."

"Th... What?" Luke blinks.

"This topic is still too... I still have more to train in order to face it. I'm already deep in the Mid to keep my mind clear enough to even talk, to keep it from straying into the Dark. But your words are drawing Darkness back in. I gave you the courtesy of avoiding triggers. If you could do the same for me—"

"I'm sorry," Luke says, genuinely sorry he overstepped the line. But now he tries to figure out how to _politely_ get answers to his concerns. _And what triggers? Her pains are this deep too? Those deep cold rocks and sparks... like what Leia found in me..._

They both close their eyes and after two deep breaths through their noses, Terigo says, "I'm sorry if I can't alleviate all your concerns now—even though you said you wanted the resistance to train. But I will explain what I can; _I need resistance too_ —" and her tone hardens on that. She becomes strict, "—The Mid allows us to hide. I hate that. I hate the Mid. It allows us to hide from overcoming problems. It prevents growth. It prevents happiness. We can't stay in it forever. _I_ can't at least." She glances hard at his eyes, yet immediately looks back at his chest realizing that a glare wasn't the best thing for him now.

Luke wasn't so sure he agreed with her words, _Yoda and Ben stayed in the Mid, I think sometimes they were even using it as deeply as being completely void like I am now to recover from the Dark Side. They grew, they became Jedi Masters. It wasn't a_ temporary fix _for them. But..._

Terigo takes a deep breath and considers her words very carefully.

Luke tries to sense her thoughts, but he can still only get fragments. Her emotions felt like she was trying to solve a tedious problem, or even searching for a way out by coming up with excuses.

After a great deal of thought, Terigo begins, "I can only assume... I can only _hope_ , that others have... left or fled, like myself, to stop the ray from destroying our planet, or to start a new life, or explore... So I can only... hope, that our religions still have followers, that they still exist."

This statement felt weird to Luke. It was off-topic, like a disclaimer. He couldn't tell what it was about. Her essence was going back and forth between sparks and ice. And parts of her words almost felt like lies. _Maybe white lies, or more like, excuses_. But her essence becomes warmer when she says her people could still exist. Her chest releases its grip to breathe casually. Luke tries to be patient, so he just says, "Ok. Continue."

"The people of my home planet, Audinic, have two major religions: The Light's Blaze and The Apricity (uh-PRIHS-seh-tee), meaning the warmth of the sun, commonly known as The Light's Warmth. My family follows the Light's Blaze. It's the oldest religion of our people; but the Light's Warmth was newly founded about 400 years ago and has grown rapidly.

"Both religions focus on growth to save others, but the Blaze focuses on personal growth whereas the Warmth focuses on communal growth. The Blaze depends on thy _self_ first before helping others, whereas the Warmth depends on _others_ first before helping thy self. Both are opposite of the Dark, but both are opposite of each other too; the Dark only helps thy self.

"The Blaze teaches traditional Jedi skills. These skills were developed from the constant war and chaos of the galaxy. We mostly grow into unique roles that require strong mental skills, such as Jedi Knights, Seers, leaders, politicians...

"The Warmth teaches a broad use of supportive skills. These skills were developed by communities unaffected by war. The followers have particularly grown in the last 100 years when we cut off contact with the galaxy. They mostly grow into common roles that require teams and communication, such as Healers, DataNets, CommNets, education, and countless others."

Though Luke was already calmly in the Mid, he seems to ease a little more by hearing about such curious uses of the Force. That, and Terigo's casual presence and soft smile were always welcoming and soothing. Her smile did always have a passive effect.

" _We_ tend to think that the Warmth's abilities are weaker, but that they're just as strong in their large numbers, whereas _they_ tend to think our training is extreme. We're certainly not rivals. We just work together in different ways.

"I don't know too much about their training, just basic differences. The Blaze's final test requires resurrecting someone you love, whereas the Warmth's final test usually involves something like saving someone from the Dark and bringing them into the Light."

She glances at his eyes for a moment to say, "That path has been on my mind since I found the Sith. I considered the path for saving Telem or Cicatrice because it might be my only option to become stronger anymore. But it seemed hopeless considering the depth of their Darkness. It..." glancing just below Luke's eyes, "...doesn't seem so hopeless anymore."

 _Does she mean me?_ Luke thinks briefly. Luckily, the Mid prevents him from feeling belittled. But it prevents him from feeling appreciative too. The information was simply absorbed, without emotional bias.

"As I've mentioned before, I only intentionally let Darkness in to test myself. It's to build a resistance to it and to build skill in cutting it off by using the Mid. The interrogation was a perfect test; it was a dire situation where my failure to revert back would mean execution. And the use of it would allow Leia—a highly valued princess and warrior—to properly judge me, as one cannot judge oneself. I've only tested getting to a point of creating lightning a few times now, but I'll need to continue to reach that point. I have a lot to overcome, so I won't stop pushing, but I'm also trying to be mindful about not pushing too hard..."

Luke begins to realize what this means, what so much of her behavior has meant. All her anger, her fears, her resilience, her unusual shifts in essence and mood. It's all summed up when she adds:

"...I'm at risk, like you."

Their pains and self-hatred will the both of them to make eye-contact, but their guilt and fears pull their eyes away.

They both stand there hating something inside themselves. In the silence of wind flowing around them, they close their eyes and breath through their nose. They begin processing all that has been said, all that has been done, all that each of them are, all that the other is. And all that the other _could be_. Then finally, both choose to leave the void of the Mid. They both choose to come out of hiding, to risk normal emotions again, and to train resistance against any Dark emotions that may surface. They calm their brooding essences and become as light as the wind.

Terigo looks around at the unusual buildings around them. Luke follows her curious eyes, allowing his own curiosity to take the wheel for a while. The hillside had embedded parts of buildings, so they were mostly intact.

"There's plenty to explore here," Terigo says.

"Yeah, I was just thinking that."

And without eye contact, they both start wandering towards the same buildings, not too far from each other, wordlessly present in the corner of each other's eyes.


	11. CHAPTER 11 -- Exploring the Ruins

Chapter 11

 **EXPLORING THE RUINS**

* * *

RED DUST AND SHADOWS cover the insides of the embedded ruins. Luke and Terigo explore several of these sections before coming across a rusted-shut door.

Terigo tries to push it open, but as she walks away, Luke pushes it open with the Force. She thanks him with a quick glance and they both enter a dark room that isn't frosted by dust.

Luke instinctively ignites his lightsaber to light the room. Terigo uses his light to explore rather than tediously move two dangerous blades around the small room. The room appears to be an office with a metal desk and chair.

Their curiosity immediately draws them to different locations: Luke inspects interesting objects & tools on the desk while Terigo sits at it and looks in drawers.

"Wait, put it back a second," Terigo says, motioning to an object he was holding. "I want to see how they laid everything out—which objects were needed in the most convenient spots, what their day required, how they thought.

"Ok," Luke says, intrigued by the idea, but almost smirks to say, "but do you even know what these things are."

She chuckles once, "No. Good point. Do you?"

He takes a long look at the whole assortment, bringing his saber's glow close to examine some. But only a few even resemble modern technology. "This looks like it could be a comlink, but it's huge. It would have to stay here, which wouldn't be very useful..."

"Well, it's ancient Luke—"

"(Yeah I know...)" having realized the moment he said it that his previous comment was a little dumb.

Terigo waits for more, paying close attention to his face. She wishes she could just read his mind because she knew she must look a bit strange.

"And this container," Luke says, toying with a covered ashtray, "I've only seen this shape on Coruscant... In fact..." looking thoughtfully through the walls to the previously explored hillside, "The archways and doors, or something—the look of this place—has a very Coruscant feel to it..." Looking back to the room, "I mean, I haven't been to too many other planets, but Leia's said Coruscant is the oldest human one."

Terigo looks to the desk and continues to ponder.

Luke motions to the desk drawers she searched through and says, "What's in the drawers?"

"Thick dust and pens, and various pieces of metal. I think they were just lots of papers and other organic things."

"Paper?" Luke asks. "What is that again? I've heard the word—"

"You've never seen _paper_?" she says curiously astonished. "Is Audinic the only planet that still uses paper?—used..."

She explains pens and paper as they take one last look around before leaving the room. This leads into wandering around the ruins chatting about how her home planet lacks much of the technology that the rest of the galaxy has developed.

"Well, slaves were made illegal long ago, for us," Terigo replies, "but I rarely ever saw a droid. We... those hopefully still alive—have always valued interacting with people rather than machines."

"But how did you get anything done? How did you transfer information?" Luke asks.

Terigo chuckles, "Just because our CommNets and DataNets are human, doesn't mean they're not brilliant at what they do. We're usually educated until we're fifty or one-hundred, depending, and most of us live to be around two-hundred. And we breed for excellency, so I don't think I ever met anyone that couldn't use the Force in some way, until we left Audinic."

"But the rest of the galaxy..." Luke says. "You would be vulnerable to anyone with better technology. And you were. The Death Sta..." but Luke trails off. His father's path of destruction was a sensitive topic to him. And he realizes it must be sensitive for her too.

Thankfully she catches the accidental topic and quickly moves on before there was any awkward pause, "Well then I'm sure it made it difficult for outsiders to spy or sabotage us if they couldn't just plug a droid into our minds. My father said no one has touched us. I got the impression our planet was small but powerful. We had so many Jedi, and several have lived to be Yoda's age, and older. My greatest-grandfather Terra is one of the oldest. Dark: ages; Light: rejuvenates. So death and old withered minds are uncommon among us."

Having made their way around the hill, they find large long buildings that are considerably less melted. Half intact. And over the melted walls of one was a pile of machinery resembling... _a huge ship?_ Or rather the semi-melted remains of one. Four-hundred feet long, fifty feet high.

They enter the building and see it looks like a large hangar. Upon getting closer to the ship pile and inspecting it, Luke points and says, "These were thrusters... And these are escape pods... This ship was capable of space travel."

"Is it newer maybe?" Terigo asks. "Maybe it's from people who found this planet after its original inhabitants? It's not as melted."

"I don't know, maybe," Luke says. "But it _looks_ ancient. Maybe it was the most modern of their technology. The building and ship look like the same metal as the surviving supports of the rest of the ruins, meaning it's higher-grade."

His excitement beams as he jogs around the ship to examine it. Terigo follows, almost as amazed. From a hundred feet away, Luke shouts: "It looks like a passenger liner. There doesn't seem to be any weapons on it, or auxiliaries. Han would still get a kick out of it though, he has a thing for old ships, I guess because they were made better before the Clone Wars. You wouldn't believe how old the Falcon is."

"Oh I don't know. I _might_ ," Terigo says.

Luke starts to climb into an open door, but the whole section of the ship creaks and Luke bolts out as the massive thing shifts. "Yeah I don't think it's safe to go inside."

"Then let's look around."

Moving down a hallway and coming to a T-junction, Luke notices some wall signs and dusts them off. He thinks about the words as he reads them, "West Wing, Section K through N, Head... "

"What," Terigo says.

"It's just so... incredible, how even after thousands of years, we still use the same language. I was thinking about it with that sign earlier how all of us—every human planet—no matter how remote—uses the same language, as if we all came from the same place..."

They enter another hanger, but it's empty. Then another, but it's empty too. They enter the lower rooms of a building, which were still intact due to layers of floors above it. They both shed light with their lightsabers, but become quickly disappointed.

"Looks like the Imperials stripped this place," Luke says. "But why would they take so many useless relics?"

"Maybe they didn't. The dust's not disturbed," Terigo says. "I read from people in town that no one's found much in the way of relics, like someone got to them a long time ago."

"Hmmm," he wonders. "Or... evacuated. Like on more ships like that one."

"That would explain a lot..." she says, "but raise a lot more questions..."

"Well, one question is answered. I can see now why you said people are calling this place Origins. The proof is everywhere; it's obvious this is where we came from."

He turns off his lightsaber and begins making his way out of the building in darkness.

Terigo asks, "What are you doing?"

"Finding my way out with the Force. Like the hood training."

She smiles wider and immediately turns hers off too.

Once outside, Terigo looks up towards the sun.

Luke notices and says, "It's nice there's only one sun here. It's not as hot here as on Tatooine. This planet is unique, how it seems inhabitable, but it isn't. Most desert planets are either too close to one or more suns, making them uninhabitable. But Tatooine's two suns were about twice the distance away as most safe suns are, so the heat was like having only one sun. Tatooine was unique too..."

" _Is_ , you mean," Terigo says, but was immediately sorry she said it. Luke doesn't notice though.

He softly chuckles once, remembering his home, "Yeah. Is. It's funny; I haven't been back to Tatooine for three years. I haven't really had a reason. My aunt and uncle... and many of my Rebel friends from there have been killed, so it feels like the planet is from a past life—like it doesn't exist to me anymore, like it doesn't exist at all. But of course it still does..."

Terigo looks around, away from him.

"You..." Luke says, "You tend to do this odd thing where you swap ' _is_ ' for ' _was_ ' or ' _was_ ' for ' _is_ ,' or ' _are_ ' and ' _were_ ,' and words like that. Past and present tense. Why is that?" he asks curiously. Innocently too, without concern for possible secrets.

Terigo glances at him and takes a strong breath, as if preparing to answer. But she glances away and looks towards the sun again. She motions to its position, "We've still got a ton of time to kill before Han wants us back, or before lunch, but we're at the last of the ruins..."

 _That question is off limits too?_ "What," Luke says, judging by tone and essence that she has an idea. Even though Luke wasn't connecting his essence to her, he wasn't keeping it away either, so he could still feel basic changes synced with facial expression.

"There's a training exercise of ours that you should like," Terigo says.

Skeptical, "Why do you think I'll like it?" Luke says.

He waits a moment for Terigo to speak as she detaches her lightsaber, ignites it, points it directly at him, and looks straight into his eyes, all with a casual grace. She says, "You _better_ like it," smiling with squinted eyes.

Luke scoffs on the inside, "You know, because of that mask of a smile you have, it took me a while to realize you seem to only make eye contact for this long when you're secretly mad at me."

Terigo lowers her saber and smirks to counter, "That's..." But she thinks about it. "I suppose that's mostly true." And she murmurs "(But not every time.) Mad, but not necessarily at you." She looks away, then looks directly at Luke's eyes, as if she wants to confront him... or confront something. But then it's gone. "Anyways..."

"...What kind of training?" Luke asks.

"It, strengthens several skills at once. _Many_ actually," ending as if expecting an answer.

"And?"

"And..." Terigo says, flicking her saber's blade 180 degrees with a click of the nightstick-handle, "are you up for the challenge?"

Luke almost groans on the inside, but his determination takes over, craving challenges. "You're not going to say what it is, are you."

Terigo exaggerates an eye-roll to express how she would be disappointed with him if he was pathetic enough to ask for an explanation.

Luke wonders if he figured out why when he decides "The greatest challenges _are_ unknown..." He takes a deep, cleansing breath, "Fine." He corrects his reply to show a lack of reluctance, "Yes." He unsheathes his lightsaber and spins it 180 too, "I'm ready." He stands straight, calm, and strong.

Terigo looks at his eyes and smiles, similar to how she did when pointing her saber at him, but it wasn't quite the same. It was now a smile layered with many more emotions.

 _She is... a woman of 100 smiles, isn't she.—_

—Zwoom-zwm-ksh—His parry only just saves his nose.


	12. CHAPTER 12 -- Staying Still

Chapter 12

 **S** **TAYING** **S** **TILL**

* * *

—ZWOOM-ZWM-KSH—Terigo had made a surprise lunging swing and Luke had barely parried it. Then she drives her blade tip forward and he parries it to the side without hardly moving. She tries to pierce him again, and again he hits it to the side while keeping his stance solid.

So she aims lower using her whole body to make several attempts for his knees. She darts to the right, then left, then a fake swing to dart right and thrust forward, then a shout, a fake, then darting behind him and all around with fake movements, shouts, and deep lunges. All of it was aiming for his knees.

But Luke holds his ground.

"You're trying to break my concentration," he states. "It won't work..." He senses an eye-roll of disappointment, but... _Did she feel disappointed in herself, or me? Probably me, as usual._

Terigo makes a large hop back and whips her blade to point down at her side. She stands strong, loose, ready for an attack, and says, "You're failing, _kid_ ," and glares at him with a half smirk.

Luke returns the glare at half strength, "This is an obvious one. Insult test again." He smirks at how the insults caused no spark in his essence, just a faint heat of annoyance. But he senses her disappointment again.

"Come on, _Jedi_ ," Terigo says, saying 'Jedi' with the utmost mockery, and eggs him on with impatient gestures.

So Luke advances. Focused, efficient, and direct; he swings at her with a sturdy stance, expecting to be parried. But she evades backwards each time. He advances further and she evades even further, creating a distance that would require him to lunge and sprint.

"I thought you wanted to spar," he says. And he feels her disappointment again. " _What_ then?" And now she's disappointed enough to truly eye-roll. Luke thinks, _Fine, I'll find out myself._ So he decides to connect his essence to her.

He advances again, and focuses on keeping his essence connected to figure this out. After a few swings, he decides, "You're trying to get me worked up."

He feels less disappointment in her this time. _Feels like I'm half right_.

Terigo yells towards the base's command center a mile away: "HEY HAN! This IDIOT thinks he can win every battle by _staying STILL_!" She had looked at him on the words 'staying still,' and he felt a hot spark in her with it. Her smile was one of those secretly mad ones again.

 _Fine, call me an idiot. Push me. I refuse to let words anger me. I_ will _overcome the Dark Side... But, 'staying still'...?_ "You want me to move," Luke states. He makes a few advances on her as he tries to feel her response. "You're trying to get me worked up with insults and adrenaline by preventing me from _staying still_. I know all too well how the heat of battle causes the Dark Side to grow, which is why I developed my own technique of staying as _still_ and _efficient_ in battle as possible."

Terigo doesn't seem to hear him and continues to move back, but Luke feels her response. _I'm only half right again. Something about 'staying still' was wrong. And it made her mad. Why?_

So Luke pushes his essence further into her to find the answer.

After a few more lunging swings, after focusing on reading rather than attacking, he picks up more complex emotions. "It's a game. A puzzle," he says. She smiles, and he does too. He adds, "It would be, wouldn't it. It would... train thinking, to solve problems, while in heated battle—"

"With a pleased smirk, she tries to impale the front of his forehead. He thinks, _Attacking my head? No, my mind,_ he realizes, "And of course, it would train reading the opponents _mind_ while in heated battle." _She meant it when she said it would train many things._

He felt in her that he had mostly solved the puzzle, but there was still one more. _Right, the 'staying still' part. It's not just about moving..._

He stops advancing to focus only on her mind, but she catches this change and starts advancing instead. _Of course she wouldn't make it easy. Good._ And with every swing, every parry, every time his focus breaks, something builds in him. This challenge, this game with another Jedi, begins filling him with a feeling of enjoyment and fulfillment. The feeling warms him, having felt it for the first time in a long time...

And suddenly, he reads the words ' _...always in motion_.'

His attack misses and she notices, but he recovers quickly and reconnects his essence to her. In the interrogation, reading words had taken concentration. But not now, in the heat of battle? It was a breakthrough. It sends a rush of excitement through him. Even she felt his essence grow warmer, Lighter.

And in a few more swings, he reads, _'The future...'_

 _What was it that Yoda said..._ Luke says, "Always in motion is the f—The future is always in motion. Yoda said these words, when I saw the future years ago."

"The future?" Terigo asks, confused.

"You want me to see the future while in battle, to predict the..." but Luke feels in her that he's way off.

"Look," Terigo says reluctantly, "I can just give you this one so we can move on. You figured out the main aspects of this exercise: control over the Dark's influence from the heat of battle, and using other skills while preventing the Dark's influence. These other skills are included in every one of The Blaze's lessons. They include: mind reading and problem solving." She lowers her saber. "The words you read are part of a, well... this exercise serves as an example of our general philosophy. In our scriptures, it reads: _The future is always in motion. The world moves; we must move with it. Our bodies are made to move, to change, grow. Only the dead stay still._ You already have this skill—your drive—to continue to train and learn. But for my people, our style of fighting has also come from this scripture. To—"

"Moving all over the place," Luke says. "You're trying to be as heated by adrenaline—the Dark Side's influence—as much as possible. It's so you can develop the most control over it."

And Terigo gives her largest smile since the start. It was strong, warm, and pleased. Luke feels in her that he's fully correct now. But now they both stand waiting while another conflict brews inside him:

He was _proud_ of coming up with his own fighting style. It was the first technique he had figured out on his own. It was something that made him special. And the years of skilled control that he had trained for it made him feel sophisticated for once. It made him feel _ascended_ from his common farmhand upbringing. But he remembers the 20/20 battle on the mining hill, how he was able to keep calm in the beginning, but not when he was forced to move. He also remembers his anger when battling his father for the last time. There was still the threat of being overcome by Darkness. But with his pride for his very own style, and with how useful the style was, he was reluctant to let go of it.

Terigo sheathes her lightsaber and sighs, indicating the training is done, or—

 _I thought we were moving on,_ Luke thinks, disappointed. He asks, "Are—" But her thoughts were scrambling, or what's left of them. And her thoughts and sunny mood begin to disappear... She had just entered the Mid, _like she's hiding something_. He also realizes she would have explained herself if he wasn't supposed to figure it out. _So we're still playing the game then._

Terigo seems to relax and take interest in the ruins again, like she's taking a break, and glances at Luke to join. So he sheathes his saber too. _Well this will allow me to read her thoughts better now that she won't attack me. But I suppose the clue will be harder to read too. I can't read thoughts that aren't there, can I._

Terigo walks towards him, casually interested in something behind him. So Luke puts all effort into reading her while she's close enough to get a good connection. He stays so focused that he closes his eyes and stays still as she passes him and—

 _"ARHH!"_ —Red-hot pain shoots through him from his bare arm—

—Pssshhhew—Luke instinctively draws his green blade as his other hand grips his wound. He nearly topples over in pain when whipping around to retaliate against her _—lying the whole time—shouldn't have trusted her—So stupid!—have to kill her!_ But she was standing stone-still. Her yellow lightsaber was pointed down and she was squinting at his eyes, faintly smiling. She was waiting for something.

He stops and keeps his lightsaber firmly ready, stumbling to lean against a pillar to keep himself standing. Terigo continues to wait patiently, watching his eyes in that 'secretly mad at him' way. Yet this time, she was smiling with many many more kinds of emotions. So Luke tries to force his mind past the pain, trying to force actual thoughts to form in more than fragments.

 _She—But—She's still playing!?—She wants me to, to read her NOW?! But that's IMPOSSIBLE! First she, she enters the Mid, now pain, she distracts me with pain. It's impossible! How can I read her thoughts—Arrrrh—No! Pain is NOTHING. I've been through worse. I've been through worse. I've survived worse. I won't let it take me. I'll show her._ And he starts focusing intensely on controlling his heavy breathing.

His eyes close and he empties his mind, repeating the words _Breathe in breathe in breathe in, breathe out breathe out breathe out._ It keeps his mind focused and empty of all other thoughts. And after many breaths, his thoughts calm, _Breathe in... Breathe out..._ as his pain becomes a strong yet secondary concern. _Breathe in... Breathe out..._

He manages to open his eyes, keeping them locked onto her, partially with a hint of fear—fear of what Darkness she might cause to overtake him. And he sees...

...her smile grow... trying to hide a tingling exhilaration.

Luke starts to form words to say and waits until he can say them clearly between his breaths. "I'm beginning to realize, why the bounty entry said, your people are sadistic."

Terigo's expression wavers, heartbroken and concerned. "You really think we are?"

After a few more strained breaths, Luke picks up on her expression, then he comes to his own conclusion. "...(Maybe)... No... I see why your people like this training. Pain is—Physical pain is—it's the biggest cause, of the Dark Side's power. This trains you to overcome, the strongest power, that the Dark Side has over you."

Another two deep breaths go by, and he raises himself off the wall to fight if he must. With this pain, he still can't read anything about her emotions, but he sees her expression loosen up. She sheathes her lightsaber, returning it to her side. He tries to figure out what she's about to do next, but can only stand there clueless.

Terigo takes a step and Luke stiffens. She takes another and begins walking towards him slow enough so he can see she means no harm. He doesn't move. _She doesn't seem ready to pounce, but she didn't seem like it last time_. So he keeps his saber lit and focuses more on trying to read her rather than catching a surprise attack.

She gently puts her hand on his hand holding his lightsaber. Her eyes seem to say ' _Trust me and this will be quicker_.'

Luke takes another deep breath, swallows, and strengthens his courage, prepared to face the pain she would cause. So he turns off his lightsaber, but keeps it in his hand due to the pain preventing anything else. Then she touches his hand on his wound to indicate he should remove it. He swallows again and reluctantly does.

Terigo gently places her palm over his whole wound and...

...a sudden growing warmth flows through his entire body from his wound. Her essence was now connected more directly than it ever had before, and he feels her intentions. She was healing him.

 _What, are we—NOW we're done? But—we just started—Did I disappoint you again!?_ And her essence seems to answer ' _No_.' Due to the pain scrambling his thoughts, Luke only notices her answer a moment later. Then, as the pain reduces, more of her thoughts come into his mind...

 _...smile... ...everyone... ...name be... ...old socks so..._

The words fade with a sudden drop in warmth. Luke sees her hand leave his arm and notices her elated smile.

He readjusts himself now that the pain was gone and rubs where his wound was. Realizing he should have been paying attention to how she healed him, he glances at his arm quickly but keeps his eyes on her. He tries to read what's coming next, but his essence's connection was nothing like just then.

Terigo casually steps behind him and—

" _ARRH!_ " —again, searing pain from his arm— _She did it AGAIN—I'm going to KILL her!—NO, that's the pain talking! Breathe! Breathe in._

And Terigo waits for him to focus on her before she begins to heal him again.

Luke wasn't connecting his essence to her, but he still hears a few words of her thoughts again. So this time, he wonders _What could I read now if I tried? I could read how to heal._

So he works past the pain to send his essence into her. It connects effortlessly, like water touching water. And suddenly he hears her thoughts again...

 _...how your smile fills... ...everyone in the room feels it... ...everyone's name before they... ...how you wear old socks so the..._

And her hand leaves his arm.

Luke rubs his healed arm again, harder, glaring at her. He doesn't remove his eyes from her, doesn't even blink. He thinks _Am I really going to be able to trust her ever again? And... socks? Did... she think all the same thoughts as before? That would be strange if she did though. And is any of it related to healing?_

—Psssh—This time, Luke catches Terigo's draw in time and deflects with a quick-draw.

" _Wait_!" Luke says, " _Let me retaliate._ " They both hold their sabers at each other.

"What?" Terigo says. His question had caught her enough off guard that she breaks her rule of speaking.

"Let me hit you too," Luke says. "It's only fair and—"

"I'm not going to _let_ you do anything," forcing a smirk, meaning it's part of the game.

"And,—"

"No, you're jumping head," Terigo says, sternly disappointed. "Plus, I still haven't willingly connected my essence to you but I can still sense Darkness in you right now, meaning either you haven't developed the skill to calm pain's control over you, or, you want to hit me for revenge." She strongly implies: "Maybe you want revenge for this pain and all other pains you think I've caused you. And/or wanting to compete is Dark too." And her eyes demand ' _So which is it?_ '

Luke thinks about it. First he tries to find an excuse, but he has a feeling she's right. _But it's still not fair..._ So he only half-believes his excuse: "It's still time that I could be practicing sparing. And you too. You would get to practice healing more."

"Forgive me if I don't believe you," Terigo says. "Besides, I can practice healing at any time by cutting off a finger. I'm more concerned about your training..." and she trails off.

"Why?" Luke asks, half-insulted, half-curious. She doesn't answer quick enough so Luke asks, "Is it your new path to train me? Are you just using me to become a Jed..." but he was sensing a great sadness in her, so he drops it. "Well, how about this. If I can hit you, it would mean I'm in control over the Dark Side. Wouldn't it? And I must learn how to heal my hand, but I can't do that when I'm hurt." He believed this excuse more because it was more true.

Terigo puts her hand on her hip and opens her mouth to speak—

"But," Luke says, realizing he's letting stupidity win, "if at any time you sense my emotions are Dark... let me know. I give you permission to read me."

It was a tough decision for her. There was the tempting offer to do what she loves most: to connect. Plus the offer of his trust. Plus she wanted to allow him to be receptive to help for once. She weighs these temptations with her concern of this all going wrong _fast_ because they both wanted to jump ahead of themselves.

"Fine," she says. "But because we're jumping ahead, I need to explain the rules, so they're clear. Give me a second..."

Luke notices they apparently had the same idea: to start fresh on this new challenge by taking a moment to calm. Luke resets himself to his calm Jedi demeanor, and Terigo resets herself to her usual spirited self.

"Alright," Terigo smiles. "These rules must be followed to perfection, otherwise we would endanger ourselves too much for it to be worth it. The rules are:

"We attack the other as much as we want. We're allowed to hold no pity for the other's pain, but we must think about purpose. The purpose is to provide the best challenge for the other. So if we hurt them beyond being able to recover from the Dark, then there is no challenge, therefore no point.

"We are only allowed to wound the arms," Terigo says, pointing her lightsaber to Luke's bare arms, from shoulder to wrist. He doesn't flinch. She opens her mouth to continue but sees her sleeves at her elbows and thinks a second. She begins removing her outer half-sleeved tunic. "(Aside from clothes being expensive to replace around here), aiming for anything more than an arm is deadly, considering we're talking about lightsabers." She tosses her tunic aside, "Further..." but she looks to her beloved yellow cowl. She fondles it a moment before she takes it off too. This reveals the rest of her sleeveless undershirt and her bare arms. Carefully placing her cowl on her tunic to prevent it from getting dirty, she continues:

"Further, we are only allowed to make flesh-wounds. Anything deeper than the thick outer skin would sever tendons that affect the hand, which could cause a lightsaber to fall unexpectedly." She raises her saber high to demonstrate: "Such as, through the chest," and drops it.

She continues, "And, we are only allowed to attack if we are _absolutely_ sure we will _ONLY_ hit the arm and ONLY skin deep. This helps train skill by making us think with more calculation, making us more accurate and deliberate. But much more importantly, even age-old Jedi have a rare accident. Even if we _were_ both Jedi, I wouldn't trust our abilities to prevent sparing accidents until we were at least fifty or so."

 _Fifty?_ Luke thinks. _That's not old to her, huh._

"(And I can't heal everything,)" Terigo adds. "Any questions?"

"No," Luke says, standing up straighter, determined and ready.

Terigo wasn't quite convinced, but remains playful, "You sure? You're ready for a lot more of _that_?" motioning to the past arm wounds. "I better not have explained all that for nothing, just to have you turn Dark in the first minute." Her tone wasn't as gentle or playful as it usually is, testing him.

"I'm sure," Luke answers. "Or at least, I'm sure I will stop myself before it gets to that point. With your help."

"Alright," Terigo says. "So then move, _run_ ," she smirks. "And I'll try to teach you without cutting off a limb—another one," pointing her lightsaber at him to emphasize it's one of those testing-insults.

To Terigo's satisfaction, Luke's essence doesn't falter at it. He only raises his saber. Running away from pain wasn't his style. He says, "You say that smiling as if you're going to enjoy making someone feel pain."

"Pain is a chance to learn," Terigo says. "Of course I enjoy learning. So if you don't give me my money's worth, at least I'll have a hell of a lot of fun teaching the pulp out of you," intentionally slurring the pronunciation of 'teaching' to sound closer to 'beating.'

Luke thinks about it all for a moment. He was so sick of himself, so sick of his failures. _Whatever it takes, however painful._ "Good. Give me all you g—"

—She lunges and swings.


	13. CHAPTER 13 -- Apricity

Chapter 13

 **A** **PRICITY**

* * *

TWO FEET DART AROUND TWO OF STONE. Red dust swirls around these four feet, billowing towards the blue sky, curling around slices of green and yellow. One could almost hear a duel of instruments: the resonating glow from Terigo's swings plus her quick jabs both resemble quick plucks of resonating sitar strings, and her feet resemble a fierce patter of small drums. And Luke's movements resemble the solemn calm of a cello, and his feet resemble the measured beat of powerful drums.

And their music plays on as Luke holds his ground. He conserves his energy by stopping himself from blocking her fake jabs, and he takes calming breaths between her lunges. To her dismay, he was giving her a real challenge. He shows her the superior use of his own controlled style. He defends it. Defends it with all his years of ambition towards being something _more_ than the simple useless boy he once was.

But showing the same ambition, Terigo takes a desperate risk to break his stance. She allows him the first hit—a slice of her arm—by lunging her whole body at him. She endures the pain to start relentlessly swinging while he recovers his footing. But she uses the momentum of his stumbling to force him onto unsteady rocks.

With Terigo still advancing, Luke takes control of his momentum to leap along the rocks to try to find sturdy footing. He blocks her swings from behind so he could stay still to prevent essence heat. Finally finding flat rock, he regains his firm stance and continues to defend her relentless whipping. But her whipping doesn't allow him to calm his built-up heat. And his heat causes mistakes, mistakes that causes more heat, until, he, gets, hit.

Luke tumbles to his knee in pain and rises to defend, but Terigo just holds herself up and puts her hand on her wound. As they both regain their breath, Terigo heals herself while Luke focuses on calming the Darkness of pain from heating him further. Luke's sense of surroundings and time are lost until he flinches when Terigo places her hand on his wound.

Soothing warmth floods him once more along with her feelings and thoughts. They feel distant until he focuses on them in her. He picks up a few words until she removes her hand, ignites her saber, and swings. With no time to calm himself, their music starts again.

Luke continues with his calming style, but with his unresolved Darkness, he falters too often and gets hit again. Terigo heals him once more, and once more he feels the warmth and words.

 _...out of her way... ...Father always loved... ...fills the room..._

And once again, Terigo relentlessly prevents him from calming himself completely.

With no hope for a break, Luke begins pushing himself to be less stationary, in small bursts, so that he has time to control the spurts of heat. And they continue. Luke begins learning how to control himself and occasionally gets hit, all while he reads Terigo's mind for the secret to healing.

 _...smile fills the room... ...Mother is sweet to... ...Father always loved..._

As the hits rack up, Luke begins to realize that the thoughts he hears are the same. They're repeated each time she heals. _It must be how I repeat 'breath in breathe out' to myself. To focus. Like a long chant or religious passage._

After another hit, he realizes that her _thoughts_ aren't just repeated, but the same _emotions_ are too. Happy feelings. Memories. He realizes she has a nostalgic smile that she only has while healing. And when the healing stops, her thoughts change to the present, and her face returns to her usual contentment. _She said love for someone can resurrect others. Must be the good memories, fueling the powers of Light._

Their music continues, and so does Luke's pain. But each hit was the chance to learn so many things. The chance to learn resistance to the Dark, the chance to learn healing, the chance to learn mind reading, the chance to see Terigo's secrets, and the chance to feel that blissful, soothing warmth... And so, with each hit, the pain diminishes little by little as Luke become resistant to the pain. The pain becomes rewritten—reassociated—with the feeling of triumph, with the feeling of growth...

...Unknown to him, he was beginning to crave it.

But as he learns how to prevent the Darkness, he gets hit less often, meaning less of the growth he so desired. So with every one of her swings calling to him...

...He allows a hit.

Terigo's eyes shoot open and she pauses a full three seconds. Then she begins to heal him.

Luke hears the pieces of her chant, but this time, it's not the same. _Luke... ...were this strong..._ And it was combined with her elated feelings.

Luke's eyes burst open to read her face. He makes eye-contact and sees her healing-smile for a quick moment, then she finishes and starts swinging again. _Whatever she thought, it wasn't disappointment—or maybe it was mostly about someone else. I have to know._

So he blocks her swings only twice before letting her hit him again. And when her fingers touch his arm, when the warmth shoots through him, he sends as much of his essence into her—

 _—knew it! Luke you did that on purpose didn't you! So you could practice! But ironically I'll be able to heal this one quickest because of this._ _I'm beginning to think it's not just your heredity that has given you such power. Good, I always hated having to hurt you._

Whole sentences! And elation was flowing through her, not disappointment. As Luke begins blocking again, he wonders what he suddenly did different. Why could he suddenly read her clearly—and why was anticipating her swings even easier now.

Luke begins dodging her swings effortlessly, as if predicting the future. He begins smiling with his sudden change, and notices his essence was no longer growing _hot._ Instead it was growing _tepid_ —without calming himself. Then it begins growing warm, but it was like the pleasant warmth when Terigo heals him.

But soon enough, Luke allows her to hit him, and he focuses everything into reading her thoughts. He tries to learn about her, this woman that hurts him but apparently doesn't want to, this woman that can heal faster because of him. And so, he hears some of her healing-chant:

 _Mother is sweet to everyone and especially loves me. She's wonderful how she always goes out of her way to keep allll of us informed._

 _Father always loved me most and gave so much to see me grow. He became a Jedi when he was only fifty because of our bond, because he loved me that much, because I grew for him and gave everything I had for him. I can know that he will always think of me, that he will always love me._

They start swinging again, but this time, he hits _her_. He grabs her shoulder as she heals and his essence rushes in with hardly any effort. This time, he sees her memories of her brother and a tropical scene:

 _How I love you so much, how your smile fills the room and everyone feels it, how you read everyone's name before they even see you, how you wear old socks so you can train for discomfort and so the children can have your new ones. Our essence was warmest on those days, but when I awoke and you held me, Chinoon's warmth may have been beautiful, but your trial blew it away by comparison. We are one._

Luke realizes these thoughts were what she repeated to heal. Every time. All her odd whispers and silent speaking were these words. They were about her past life, her life that was now gone, dead. _No wonder she holds so much sorrow._

And that's when Luke notices those cold rocks inside her once again. They were her different sorrows. Three sections of them. They had always felt like they were covered by a warm flow of a lighter essence—of the Light. But when she heals him again, he confirms he feels the warmth flicker away. The warmth gets pushed by hot sparks coming from these cold rocks. For just a half second.

So he digs deeper.

 _Careful_ , Terigo says to him with her mind. Luke realizes he must have thought ' _Why'_ because she stops healing and answers, _Because... I might hear what you're thinking or what you've read, so it would be too risky to connect to you. It would disrupt the Light's healing and send me to the Mid, or worse. I need it to stay hidden for now._

Terigo feels his desire to know and his desire to learn about her, so her full-faced healing-smile returns. It causes the warmth of the Light to rush through both their bodies again.

Dodging her swings again, Luke allows a hit so he can itch his right forearm. Now something as simple as an itch was now more concerning than pain. He leans against a support while Terigo begins, then he considers her warning. But his curiosity—and even his loneliness—was pulling too hard. Taking respect into consideration, he tries to think of a way to learn about her without her reading it... _Maybe_ _only while she's chanting._

 _Feasible but risky,_ Terigo thinks back. _The best way is to think of it in a good way. There is a good side to everything. Pain is a chance to learn; death is a chance for new bonds._ She takes a deep breath and lets Luke think about her statement before she resumes healing.

As she stays safely distracted by her chanting, Luke digs deep. He finds those hidden rocks & sparks, and manages to touch a cluster of small ones before Terigo wraps up. _Loneliness... One is loneliness. How could I have been so blind..._

Terigo takes her time in letting Luke know she's finishing, and continues to chant. As Luke wraps up his thoughts, he now notices how her healing was causing the wound to itch, so he scratches around her hand. Even when she finishes, she continues to chant just in case Luke was still thinking about what he found. But she doesn't remove her hand right away. She lets their connection linger, conflicted by so much: She wanted him to learn, she wanted to face her secrets herself, and she wanted the warmth to continue. But—

"You know," Luke says, "Leia feels the same way. But she also feels like now she can make a real difference in the galaxy, like you, now that her home—well... now that there's nothing holding her back. She wasn't that attached to the people on her home planet. But other than that, you two have a lot in common."

Terigo lets her chanting fade some to determine if his comment was safe to think about.

Luke feels no real change in her essence and wonders if he made a mistake, "Or is that a _bad_ way to look at it, that someone else is lone—"

Terigo jerks her hand away and makes a scoff-chuckle, "It wasn't bad until you asked if it was," and leaps back to swing.

Luke leaps back to dodge and continues evading until Terigo knocks the lightsaber out of his hand. He dodges and does a crouching-leap to grab his saber, but he doesn't get the chance to wonder why his hand didn't close enough to pick it up because Terigo hits his bicep the instant after.

The hit prevents Luke from recovering from his crouching-leap, causing him to fall to the ground. Terigo was suddenly pinning him down by pressing her hand on his wound. After the sudden pain of her hand, the ease of lying down lures Luke into staying there to rest. It gives them both a chance to relax after such a long time of swinging and running and pain.

Luke closes his eyes and collapses onto his back. He breathes. He lets his essence flow into her, effortlessly. Like water into water. And as hers flows through him, he lets the warmth overtake him. He lets it spread through every limb, relaxing him, easing tenseness, tenseness he didn't know he had, easing every muscle, expanding his lungs, expanding veins, softening every ache into warm water, and giving every cell of tissue the life-giving essence that years of tension had long cut off. It felt as if Leia was near, touching his arm, connected to his essence and mind. The same feeling would happen naturally while he mentored her, while smiling together, and laughing together. The feeling was more soothing, more euphoric than the gentle warmth of the sun...

 _So_ this _is why we're alive..._ This _is what we all aim to feel..._

Though the itching on his right forearm had begun many hits earlier, only now was it becoming unbearable. Luke's other hand jolts over to itch his forearm, then he scratches around Terigo's hand healing his left arm wound... _Is my arm...? Is it her healing or...?_

Terigo hears his thought, so she finishes healing quickly and removes her arm to find out too. His _healed_ wound stops itching, but his forearm _doesn't_. It itches _more_ , to the point of stinging.

Luke studies the connection from his forearm to his mechanical hand and sees redness where it itches.

"Your arm is—?"

"I think it's trying to heal," Luke says, focused on it. "On its own."

Before the warmth of healing wears off, and before worry about his hand kicks in, a new sensation in the Force tugs on his attention.

Terigo suggests, "Or it's infec—"

"Wait s _hh_ ," Luke says, as if trying to hear something distant. He was too focused to give more than a glance at her to apologize for interrupting...

Terigo reads his thoughts for a moment and freezes to focus too.

"They're Force-sensitive," Luke says, "It's faint. Really far away."

"They? Do you mean one or—

"One."

"I..." Terigo tries to focus harder. "What direction is the person, I can't feel them—"

"That way," pointing to a horizon of hills. "It's further away than I could feel a moment ago—or, I mean, than I've _ever_ been able to feel before."

Terigo still struggles to feel them. She even chants out loud... After a moment, she says, "Well you're warmer with the Light than you have ever been. How... You... I can only assume it's your heredity this time, in combination with a Light essence—considering your distance yesterday."

Luke almost scoffs, amused, but thinks about it. "What do you mean, my hered—"

A little shocked he didn't know, Terigo says, "Even—Every Imperial seems to know a lot about you, such as your father was born without a father—by the Force—and was incredibly powerful because of it. I can only imagine how much, I mean your power feels like you're one-hundred, not a twenty-something child like me."

Luke blinks. He didn't know that about his father. And... _One-hundred? Really?... Child like her? There's nothing childish about her._ Now he scoffs, in good humor and confusion. He scratches his forearm again and looks to it to go back to the previous topic. "But, if it's infected, I could be dead in—"

"Don't worry about it now," Terigo says, "If worse comes to worse, of course I'll heal you. But worrying will cause Darkness to seep in and you'll lose sensing distance, so—"

"Then let's go," Luke says, starting to walk quickly. "Let's head back to grab speeders, lunch, and go find them."

Terigo was already following, and they pick up the pace.

.

Back at the command center, Luke speaks into a comm box next to the outside of the entrance, wrapping up, "Ok, we're out. Don't release the lockdown for any reason, I don't know when we'll be back."

Han replies, "If it looks bad, come back. We're just bounty bait sitting here without the traps."

"What?! _Han_ ," Luke nags, "I said—"

" _What_. I don't have the trapped rooms memorized _either_."

Luke groans, pushing his weight into the comm button. "Well then we'll hurry back."

"Then hurry up and go already," and Han ends the transmission with Chewbacca in the middle of yelling a worried farewell.

Luke sighs and pushes himself away by his thumb on the comm button. With Terigo practicing on a speeder behind him, he hurdles on his own speeder and takes a breath. Terigo secures her yellow cowl, and they ride off...


	14. CHAPTER 14 -- Lighter

Chapter 14

 **L** **IGHTER**

* * *

THE DUST STORM'S TAIL was lingering for miles along hills spotted with pale green. Luke and Terigo bring their speeders to a stop among the misty dust around the bottom of the hills.

Terigo says, conversationally, "These things are really intuitive once you ride them for a bit."

With his mind mostly on the hills, Luke smirks, "I used to say that when I was little, but no one understood. They just thought I was reckless..."

He tells her that the person is over these hills, so they start hiking.

Halfway over the hills, their hiking turns into climbing.

Terigo says, "At least these rocks aren't spikey or slippery like at the base."

"Yeah, I think there was less acid rain here."

"And I can feel the person now, by the way. Since about a quarter of the way here on the speeders."

Luke scoffs quietly, smirking with good humor, "You mean you only have a quarter of the sensing distance that I do?" He lets her see his smirk to let her know it was lighthearted, but she was already smirking back. He had forgotten until now that she had always felt his intentions before he could speak.

She says, smirking wide, " _You_ mean when you're _Light_ , otherwise you have a quarter of the sensing distance that _I_ do."

He smirks again and turns his head back to continue climbing, then he smiles to himself from the comfort of having such a close friend.

Approaching unscalable cliffs, they consider walking back a half hour to find another way, but they discuss things before resorting to.

Luke says, "If it wasn't as high, I could jump up there by pushing the ground away with the Force. Are you able to do that?"

"No..." she says with the largest smirk, ohhhh the possibilities! "...But, maybe there are enough boulders here for you to move to make stairs up to each of these smaller cliffs."

"Or maybe we could cut some boulders out."

"Or just cut _stairs_ out of the wall.

"Or," Luke says with finality, "Just get on a boulder and I'll..." but he realizes the same thing that Terigo already was:

"But _I_ can't levitate the boulder you would stand on—"

"Yeah," Luke says, disappointed.

"We should try cutting out stairs; I doubt I could even levitate a pebble up there. It's strangely different, how I had to _push_ the dead essence of the lightsaber rather than _connect_ to a living flow, or _ask_ it, so to speak. I'd never seen or tried such a thing until I left Audinic. Our religions focus on people, not things." She goes to the cliffside to start but looks back for Luke's agreement.

About her pebble doubts, he mumbles: "(Size is irrelevant by the way)," as a side note, busy with thoughts. Luke almost gives the ok, but... "Well, then what about _me_? Levitate me. Maybe you can do it because of your skill with the Light."

Terigo was already considering how, having read his thoughts before he finished, as usual. "Hmm... Maybe... I could see pulling someone closer, if they _wanted_ to come closer, but not... not _away_ , I don't think. If..." And the answer was simple after that, but Terigo was too busy thinking of the method.

"Then I'll lift you up on the boulder, and you pull me up."

"Provided I _can_ ," as she looks for a loose rock to stand on, excited to try new things.

Luke concentrates and her rock wobbles and bobbles, but after much straining and calming, Luke gives up with a sigh.

"I can't. My essence won't stay in the rock when it's this close to you. The flow blends in and interferes, like water next to water."

"Hmm. Try again. I'm going to try to lock my essence in, like how I kept my essence from connecting automatically to you. And I'll try repelling yours too; maybe it will stay in the rock that way. But I think I'll have to conjure distancing emotions—Darkness—like anger and annoyance, so don't take anything you might sense in me to heart. Ok?"

Luke pauses only a second to wonder what she'll be thinking about to hate him. "Ok," almost scoffing.

Terigo's smile disappears and her smooth face looks odd to Luke for a moment. Then he realizes it's because her face was showing expressions he rarely if ever saw on it. The expressions that other people use for exasperation and disappointment and even hatred. Raw and clear, without mixing with joy or hope. He looks at her face for a few seconds, mildly amused at how her anger did seem to really exist.

But when he tries her rock again, this time Luke has no real trouble getting her up to a ten foot high landing while she practiced balance by standing rather than squatting.

Sitting on her cliff, she focuses and Luke feels her warm essence enter. After a long moment, she calls down, "Ok. I think I can get this to work if you connect as much of your essence to me as you can, but ultimately, allow as much of my essence to enter you so I can retract it and hopefully pull you with me. And you need to try to keep my essence inside you. I'm not sure how you want to do that. But when I try to pull my essence back, it needs to pull you with it..." She senses his understanding. "Ok then. Let's try it at four feet for now."

"Ok. But I'm starting to think it might take less time if we found another way up," but he feels her longing when he connects.

"Just..."

"Or, actually," having an ' _of course_ ' moment, "I can just levitate a rock that I stand on too," as he finds one and gets on it.

"Let's try it this way at least..." Terigo says, trailing off, holding back a whine. Of course it was more logical to do it that way, but this was a chance for a new skill.

Luke decides, "We can try when we get back, we're short on time," and he begins to focus.

His rock wobbles and bobbles too, but he stops again with a more frustrated sigh. "I'm certain this won't work with my rock this time. The flows are just as close as with yours, but I can't exactly keep my own essence away from myself," and he was already thinking of what to do next.

Terigo calls down, "That makes sense now that you mention it again. Have you ever tried to take a Jedi's lightsaber from them, or choke them—hurt them? Telem did, but it doesn't work. It only works on people that aren't that Force-sensitive, like with the Perk shielders. No flow interference."

"So then let's try pulling me up," Luke says.

And so they do.

Luke has no problem letting Terigo's essence in to start, but oddly enough, when his feet began to leave the ground, he feels his essence try to push her essence out. It was as if the strange sensation of his feet leaving the safe ground was causing an instinctual feeling of alarm, then his instincts would try to get rid of what was causing the threat. _Trust. Trust that it will be fine. This height would only cause a bruise at worst._

After four minutes at four feet, tumbling and stumbling, they both wordlessly sense the other's confidence in trying for the full distance. So Terigo tries, slowly and tediously. She thinks only of wanting him closer, while Luke does the same, thinking only of wanting closer. And both of them try to avoid thinking of the risk.

Coming over the cliff, Luke's knee bumps the edge and the sudden jolt causes him to lose concentration for a moment. He drops a little from it, which causes another bump to his knees. Feeling the ground, he opens his eyes, which causes him to drop the remaining inches, and he pulls himself up away from the edge. "Terigo, I—" but she already let go of him to let him stand on his own.

Terigo laughs with amazement and Luke almost laughs back, both with open-mouthed smiles. Due to their excitement, the mystery person's presence becomes clearer. It sobers them as they focus for a moment on the person.

"Right, next cliff," Luke says.

With combined efforts, they use the same rock to get her up and Luke's knees only get rubbed this time. And after a few more cliffs, he doesn't drag at all.

On what could be the last cliff, Luke examines how the cliffside is split with walls facing each other. He says, "Don't worry about this one. The walls are such that I can jump up this one using the Force to gain height, pushing off the walls," motioning in a zig zag between the two. "It will be quicker," and he gets ready to move her rock.

"Oh... Well then why don't you go up first and try your hand at pulling me up." She was already feeling his decline in the interest of time. "We're making great time as it is. We saved an hour of climbing at least, certainly more."

"Your skill in the Light Side is better than mine," declining the suggestion.

"But your power in the Force is _stronger_ than mine. It could make up for it." She nudges his arm, like a brother would, but similar to the full palm contact of healing him. She playfully teases, "Come on. All I hear is fear."

"Maybe one of us should have a little fear to keep us rationally grounded," he half jokes, dryly. He hated the idea of having fear, yet hated the idea of dropping her more.

"I don't think this is one of those times. I've seen what you can do."

Her playfulness and smile pacifies him just enough. Luke sighs, "Ok, I suppose."

So he zig zags up the walls while Terigo examines closely to figure out how one might use the Force to gain height.

At the top, he starts concentrating, "Only four feet high for now, ok?" he nearly demands.

"Of course, but this won't work with that kind of anxiety Luke. Not even the Mid is enough. You need to focus on what causes your essence to become Light. The Light will make me light. _Sorry—_ " laughing at the terribleness of the pun. "You need about the same amount of Light that you had shortly before you sensed this person, or _while_ sensing them if possible."

 _Leia... The feeling of bonding with her, of having her near, of having someone near, closeness. Closeness will make you close—Great, now I made one._

He had felt how Terigo had done it, and vice versa, so it didn't take him much longer than her to figure out. And she had no bad feelings about trusting her feet to leave the ground, or trusting Luke to keep her safely floating, regardless of whether that were true.

The Light felt good. Luke couldn't deny the temptation to stay absorbed in it forever by shutting the world out. He wanted more. _Getting her closer would create a stronger feeling, like when she healed me_. So they wordlessly agree to raise her higher, and if Luke had been in his normal frame of mind, she would have bobbed and lowered with his concern over the height. But his mind is at ease, thinking of Leia, of friends, of Terigo, of his soul at peace, feeling perfection... So with the Light growing, his forearm itches.

In a second's time: the itching causes a hint of distraction—remembering all his hand stood for; which causes a hint of Darkness; _Not now! She's high enough to die!_ which causes his hard-trained reflexes to stop this Darkness by changing to the Mid, _WAIT NO!_

And in that one full second, she falls.

Luke lunges over the edge to grab her arm but the sudden jerk on his cybernetic hand causes it to fail for the last time, and she falls through his limp fingers.

Reflexes kick in again to will the Force to pull her up, but in a split-second realization that it won't work on bodies, everything in him roars for her and everything around her to be closer. It causes the dirt and air below her to pull up with the Force, causing it to slow her just a little before hitting feet first as she tries to roll to help break her fall.

She lies motionless—

—" _Terigo!—_ "

—then she withers in pain, just an inch.

On his hands and knees, Luke goes to jump— _STOP! If I go down there now and she sees me like this, she won't be able to heal! She can't see me like this! And Leia can't see me like this! Leia, Leia, breathe, breathe..._

Hiding behind the cliff's edge, cowering in a ball, he grips his head to the ground until he gets his breathing under control. He stays there until he gets his essence heat under control.

He sits up, keeping his mind clear, letting only the simple thoughts come in. _Don't look at her; too risky. How can I get down?_ So he ignites his lightsaber, pushes it into the cliff edge, and tumbles off, using the friction of the blade cutting down the cliffside to fall at a reduced speed.

He closes his eyes to prevent his mind from remembering her or the pain he caused, and walks over to her. He hears her chanting between choking on the pain or laughing, or both. Both. He calms himself once more, kneels down, opens his eyes. Then calms himself again to prepare to look at her, but he cannot. This is as much as he can do. So he just stays by her side, looking to the horizon, seeing the dust storm in the distance, and closes his eyes.

As if by impulse or instinct, her hand lurches to his leg, clutching it for comfort. She feels him resist her essence from connecting and feels his flickering fear. She herself flickers with sadness, until she rethinks it like she has been raised to do naturally. So her smile returns and grows into her healing-smile. "Your..." breathing heavy and trying to force out words, "You... It's easier now... to heal... because you can... fight the Dark, this close to me. I'm so happy, to see that, you can. It's good I fell. This is a strong, test," and she abandons trying to speak to focus.

Luke merely takes her words in, without emotion. Information received, to be processed later. Now, there was only breathing... and her hand on his leg. So his real hand glides over to embrace her wrist, comforting her to help her heal.

As if she's been giving birth, she tenses for a moment and Luke hears one of her knees pop as if it was previously dislocated. Then she goes limp with relief. She alternates between laughing, sighing, and taking a deep breaths when saying, "Luke, there is nothing, as euphoric as the feeling after bones unbreak," laughing joyously at the joke. Then she pats Luke's leg with the last of her energy.

She lays for a bit longer as if asleep or meditating to finish healing and gather her strength. Then she takes one last deep breath and opens her sleepy eyes. She looks to Luke and smiles to help bring him out of the Mid, but his expression doesn't change.

She sits up and pats his broken hand to say, "Hey, I'm fine. This was great," genuinely smiling, though a little groggy.

But Luke looks to his hand and then to her, gravely, "You need to heal this now. It's too dangerous to leave it like this. I can't use my lightsaber, and I'll end up hurting you again." And his guilt pulls his eyes down to his hand. "I won't be able to fight if this person is dangerous. Won't be able to protect Han or anyone if—"

Terigo gives Luke a friendly hug, deep but quick, consoling. "Do you trust me?" looking at his avoidant eyes.

Luke's eyes dart to hers, "Y—" almost saying 'yes,' thinking she meant in terms of healing, thinking she was going to heal him, but then he wonders whether she meant she _won't_. So he gives it a full analysis. He considers whether he really does trust her, and considers everything so far, even the lightning. Then he feels her sudden sadness and knows it's from him having to think about it. But he senses her start to feel hope and determination for realizing she'll just have to be better.

So he decides, then looks to her eyes to say, "Yes."

Terigo smiles with a deep growing warmth, "Then trust me:

"This will be good for you."

And she stands up, patting his shoulder once, and starts walking towards their destination.

Luke rushes to his feet, glaring at the back of her head with fuming desperation and dread.

Terigo feels his swirling emotions and stops. She was waiting for him, feeling hopeful.

Luke stands still, fighting with his thoughts. _I can't possibly... I'm not invincible, and neither are you, despite how far you've gotten. You can't really think... But maybe that's why she's gotten this far. And I've gotten far... I_ have _gotten far..._ He looks to his hand, _What good is just a hand going to do. To wield a lightsaber? Wouldn't have saved Han if I turned on him. Wouldn't save Leia from the Dark Side if I turned. I need something more than this hand. I need power over the Darkness. I must do whatever it takes for that. Even if that means never seeing this hand again, so be it. I can't be afraid..._

Determined, he looks to Terigo's back and opens his mouth to— _She heard all that, didn't she..._

Terigo smiles without him seeing or feeling it, smiling for his strong will and how she won't be so alone.

Luke collects himself by taking a breath and relaxes into the Mid, _—No. Now's not the time for the Mid. Only for emergencies._

So he opens himself past the Mid to return to himself. He thinks about the task ahead and what he has to look forward to: the prospect of a new Jedi, the Light powers he's developing, the company of a new friend, the deep bond, and what he'll be able to teach Leia when he gets back. He thinks about it all, without fear.

He walks to Terigo's side and says, "Thank you," and begins scanning what's beyond.

Terigo glances at him to let him see her smile as a reply, then she continues to scan the scene.

They both look over a valley scattered with pale green splotches and what looks like rectangular rocks, until they strain to look closely and recognize...

...fully intact ruins.


	15. CHAPTER 15 -- Questions to Answers

Chapter 15

 **Q** **UESTIONS** **T** **O** **A** **NSWERS**

* * *

PALE GREEN SUCCULENT VINES pull away from Luke and Terigo's feet as if they were living fingers, but the two don't notice given their tiny size. They walk into the valley, and when they see the plants and intact buildings, Luke says, "This area has _definitely_ avoided the acid rain."

They walk past buildings that only seem crumbled by time. The buildings are all the same color of stone as the hills, hence impossible to spot from a passing ship. While trying to stay focused on the mystery person, Luke and Terigo notice how the buildings have kept enough of their character to be recognizable as different shops and homes, illustrating a small-town feel. After walking for some time, they approach a large campus of connected buildings and move cautiously when they determine the person is among them somewhere.

Luke turns to Terigo to speak but—

"No," she says, "I was going to ask _you_ that, if you could sense anything new."

Luke smirks at her mind reading, but spots something in one of the distant windows.

" _No way_ ," Terigo says, utterly beside herself, then she sees what he does.

They rush to the window and determine it is indeed... lit.

They enter the building to try to reach the room, but discover there are other lights on down halls and in rooms.

"They must have gone this way," Luke says, leading the way.

Terigo takes a detour to explore lit rooms. "Check it out," she calls with wonder to Luke.

"Small chairs?" Luke sees rows of thirty small metal chairs facing a wall in a room otherwise filled with decayed clumps and metal scraps.

"They're in every room like this. I think this was a school for kids," she says.

"Funny, how with this much decay, it looks more like a prison," he says.

Walking in the halls again, Luke says, "They feel, warm. Light."

Terigo's hope, excitement, and even desperation shines stronger than it has in a while, "Yeah. Like they're from my home... Keep your emotions Light too, welcoming. They can _certainly_ feel us too, so we don't want them to get the wrong impression and attack."

They slow and stop behind a corner to hide, sensing the person in a room a few hundred feet up ahead. From here on out, Terigo keeps her focus acutely on the person rather than pay much attention to what Luke's thinking or about to say.

"They're strong with the Force," Luke whispers.

"Yeah. Old," Terigo whispers back. "Older than what you feel like, essence wise. So I'm sure they could feel us _long_ before we could them. But they keep moving away. I'd be _concerned, if_ I wasn't focusing on the curiosity of it to keep my thoughts in the Light."

 _Interesting approach_ , Luke thinks, trying to do the same.

They both begin to focus to try to sense details, but in their silence, they hear distant talking. A female voice.

Luke says, "I only sense one person, so who's she talking to?" Defeated, "And I can only get basic emotions. Curiosity. Passiveness..."

"Same here," Terigo says.

"Really, even though they're Light?" Luke says. "This isn't any further than the stormtroopers. And our essence flows into Force-sensitives like a magnet compared to the troops."

"Well for one," Terigo begins, "they appear to be keeping their mind's essence closed off. On purpose. They don't want us to read their mind. And two, the only reason we've been able to read so much about each other is because we've both wanted the other to. Otherwise you can only get what's on the surface of the mind, unless you're much closer and have a lot of time and focus. The usual state of Light or Dark doesn't matter so much as long as they want you to know them. I'm sure even you and your father could have read thoughts if you both wanted t—"

"We did. We connected... We felt so much in each other," Luke says solemnly, until he pulls himself away from dark memories and back to the present.

They both feel the person moving again, leaving the room from another connecting room. But the female voice stays there, talking to someone.

Approaching the room on their right, they see the person quickly cross a hall to their left and go to follow—

" _Together, we become Jedi, the—_ " the female voice says.

"(Wait!)" Luke whispers loudly to Terigo, having heard the voice more clearly.

"(What?)" looking back briskly, keeping her focus on the person.

The voice stops, so Luke focuses harder on the room's occupants while Terigo keeps her focus on guarding him.

"A machine," Luke says, his face loosening in awe, and he peeks inside the room.

Music starts playing and Luke sees a flat hologram projected onto a wall.

With much marvel, he waves Terigo inside and she reluctantly abandons the mystery person in favor for Luke's enthusiasm.

" _A long time ago far, far away, we roamed the forests in peace by using a powerful force._ " The female voice again, coming from the machine. Various types of pictures accompany her words, projected onto the wall in grey. Some images are paintings, others are drawings, others photographs. Some are singular, some are sequential to depict movement or ideas. " _This force gave us the power to know anything and do anything._ "

Luke and Terigo watch in awe. The rest of their world disappears.

" _We could say anything using only our hearts._ " The hologram's pictures show people communicating without speaking.

" _We could heal any pain._

" _We could feel anyone and anything._

" _We could know the future._

" _We could change the world with our minds._ " The hologram shows objects floating together to build a building.

" _Ancient cave paintings show our mother, Moeder,_ " showing a planet with water and trees, " _gave birth to us so we could protect her. She made us a god, giving us her lifeforce to stop other planets from hurting her._ " It shows many different cave paintings of meteors falling and people willing the meteors away.

" _We were born as one god with many bodies._ " It shows a cave painting of many people connected by lines, forming a web-like network.

" _We grew as one across Moeder to protect her everywhere,_ " modern paintings show meteor showers from all over the planet.

" _But Moeder became ill with a sickness even we could not prevent._ " Cave paintings show a fiery volcano.

" _Its darkness spread_ ," showing the smoke covering a landscape and blackening the whole screen, " _and caused us pain we could not heal,_ " showing lava & fire burning trees and people.

" _This darkness has infected us all, pulling us apart,_ " showing fighting, " _weakening our combined strength,_ " showing crying people and graves. " _Our children are now born weaker than their parents,_ " showing modern pictures of meteors hitting towns, and the aftermath.

" _If we continue to weaken, we must leave our mother and she will die,_ " showing people floating in a black sky full of stars, crying while looking at their planet.

" _But we are her child, a god._

" _And we can be that god again._

" _But we can not do it alone._

" _We must combine our force to fight the darkness,_ " showing a modern version of the cave painting of the web-like network of people. " _Only then are we powerful enough._ "

" _Together, we can save each other._

" _Together, we can save our mother._

" _Together, we become Jedi: the God of Lifeforce._ "

Music plays and the picture disappears, leaving Luke and Terigo open mouthed and still. Then the music stops, begins again, and the show starts repeating.

Luke gives the device a full examination with only his eyes, noticing the cords that connect it to the wall, and determines "I don't think it would do any good to take it with us. The power supply is so old, it doesn't even resemble anything I've seen... We should turn it off for now to preserve the power..." but he can't figure out how.

Terigo examines it, "These three spots don't have dust, so that person touched them to turn it on..." and begins focusing on the person again.

Luke examines the spots and figures out how to turn it off.

In the dark silence, Luke asks, "Do you think there's any truth to it?"

"I don't know..."

"I mean... is it like a history lesson or a fairy tale?"

"Or are they just plain crazy, I don't know," Terigo says. "Our ancient texts don't exactly conflict with this if you consider how information is lost and changes over thousands of years, but..." but she can't come to any conclusions and instead just sighs and turns to the door. "We should find this person and see if they have anything to add."

So they both continue their hunt.

They pick up speed to catch up, keeping hidden, but the person still won't show themselves. Yet, this person seems to take their time in exploring.

"Well," Luke whispers, "I say we make contact. I know you're not afraid of anything, so..."

"Go for it," Terigo says. "You speak and I'll try to sense more."

"Right."

Luke waits for the person to exit into a courtyard in case they need to escape. Then he calls, "We mean no harm. We just want to talk." Luke steps out into view, and Terigo follows.

They both take a moment for their eyes to adjust to sunlight and for memories to jog.

Two hundred feet away, before large succulent vines gathered around a spring, stood the man from R2-D2's hologram. The wanted fugitive, worth a million credits, for sadistic practices, cast out by every Jedi Master of note.

Terra of the True Light.

Smiling.


	16. CHAPTER 16 -- Unspoken

Chapter 16

 **U** **NSPOKEN**

* * *

AN ILLUSION IS CAST. Terra appears to be wearing sunlight rather than cloth, in the way the sun hit his golden-yellow cloak. The sunlight parts to fall behind his shoulders, revealing soft whites and yellows that were rich yet easy on the eyes, welcoming their gaze. His clothing consists of expensive materials found only on Coruscant, yet aren't accompanied by any designs or decorative accessories or even grooming styles, like most living there. The tailoring is a simple, casual sharpness, such that any Coruscanti would be jealous to look so good with yet be so comfortable. He presents as a modest, humble diplomat with an air of friendly invincibility. A man looking no older than 50, poised as if he has known all emotions, all people, all worlds. One that would take no issue over whether he died now or lived forever. One who's warm smile pacifies any concerns.

One who looks genuinely happy to see them.

"But I doubt you will be happy after our conversation," Terra says. "It would do us both good if we ended this conversation now."

"Why?" Luke asks, concerned yet respectful.

Terigo shows her embarrassment and says to Luke, "That's an incredibly disrespectful thing to ask someone hundreds of years older than you, at least like that, rather than assuming they know better and merely ask for enlightenment."

Luke looks to Terigo and—

 _I don't mind, coming from him. He's being very respectful for someone being raised out here._

—and jerks his head back to Terra.

Luke thinks, _Were those my feelings or his?_

 _They were Terra's, mine,_ Terra says with his mind and an amused grin, like he were seeing an infant take his first taste of sweetcake. Terra had sent, not words, but feelings and concepts to both Luke and Terigo. It had happened in about half the time that it would've taken to translate those feelings into speech, but twice the amount of time it would have taken if Luke had been reading Terra's mind too. Luke notices the subtle warmth of someone else's essence in his own: Terra's connection; and he would notice the pulses of extra warmth when Terra sends his thoughts.

 _The man that speaks without a mouth_ , Luke recalls. He had forgotten all about what the child at the mines said.

Terra lets Luke's surprise settle before telepathing again. _I do hope you come to enjoy this form of talking, like_ we _do,_ we meaning Terigo. _It's by far more accurate and efficient, and just simply feels better. Everyone else in the galaxy seems to find it strange or invasive. Understandable considering how desperately independent and antagonistic everyone is out here. So I'm glad I get to enjoy this moment with you two. It's refreshing. You'll certainly aide my powers of Light when I remember you two children are out here growing amongst trials harder than what our people could ever offer._

Terra had used no hand gestures, only eye movements, facial expressions, and natural body language. None of these were deliberate gestures, just the natural movements caused by thoughts. Luke wouldn't realize for years that Terigo actually did use gestures when telepathing. She did for two reasons: her younger skill level in it, and years with the Sith & Imperials where she needed to rely on only gestures. Luke thinks, _I guess gestures wouldn't be needed to help illustrate a point, would they,_ because he had felt something like textures or flavors to the feelings and images that were sent to him. These were all the subtle associations Terra had with each word. These faint feelings were like the subtle flavors of gourmet foods that Luke had been treated to since his fame; the smoky wood flavor of that Larlox steak; that one drop of lemon in his tea. _They're illustrated perfectly with pure thoughts. It_ is _efficient... and beautiful, in a way..._

Terra continues, _I agree entirely, but as I was saying: My concern is that you would not be so pleased with me just yet. You understand now why no one told you about your father, correct?_

Luke blinks, then thinks about it briefly, "To keep me from following him into the Dark Side..." But he reluctantly realizes, "And..." grudgingly, guiltily, "to keep the pain of it from turning me too."

 _Correct. This is also why I must reserve teaching you until later. I would certainly be pleased to aid the son of Anakin, but if you are patient—_

On the feeling—the 'word'—of Anakin, Luke felt hints of Terra's memories: interactions with Anakin, and interactions with rumors. He saw an image of his father as a teenager, with the flavor of infancy attached.

 _My father, before..._ And Luke has a swirl of thoughts on Terra's 'words,' cold Darkness and warm Light.

 _I feel how concerned you are, how you haven't spoken to him since. But if you are patient, and work hard to grow..._ Terra seems to feel the sting of Luke's aversion to the word 'grow,' Luke having felt it was a bit condescending. But Luke then becomes annoyed with himself that he was now conflicted between insult and humbleness: He didn't know whether he has any right to feel insulted when someone considerably older than he had said it, or to feel he has no right to feel he doesn't have a long ways to grow considering his failures, knowing Terra's probably right. Terra continues, _If you work hard to grow,_ _then I would be happy to give you assignments years from now when you've reached adulthood._ And 'adulthood' had the flavor of a young man being congratulated with the words 'happy birthday' and 'happy first century'.

 _Adulthood..._ Luke thinks. Again, he was conflicted between feeling condescended to and feeling that 'child' was accurate. And he was conflicted further by the pleasant feeling of seeing someone smile without scorn in a galaxy where no one smiles, yet the smile coming from someone 'innocently' condescending. Terra's words were like backhanded-compliments. Luke says, "What would it take—" then eyes Terigo to see if he's making another blunder. She didn't object, "—according to you, to reach that point of adulthood."

 _Roughly a century. Or if half of either of your qualities were reversed. If you, Terigo, had his one-hundred year old essence, or if you, Luke, had her essence of Light. But certainly not a child of the Light or a useless Mid essence._

 _Useless?_ Luke thinks, grumbling on the inside.

Terigo had been wishing she could enjoy using telepathy, yet knew Luke wouldn't be able to hear due to her skill level not being developed enough to communicate with two minds. So she says aloud, "So you don't feel we would grow faster by traveling with you?" asking respectfully for clarification, assuming Terra knows far better than her.

Terra begins examining some of the largest succulents, those that were as tall as him, the things having weaved their vines up rocks and each other. The plants retract and move away from his touch in a way that interest Luke and Terigo, but Terra only glances at the plants once, seeming far more interested in Luke and Terigo. _I'm sure you would grow faster, but no one would get what they want that way, except the Sith. We all want to bring peace to the galaxy. But my powers would be squandered by devoting myself to children whom can learn well enough on their own,_ with the flavor of two infants standing before him.

Luke was starting to understand their age difference, half annoyed, but half welcoming being grounded.

"You feel we can?" Terigo asks. "You've read all of our challenges? The deepest ones?"

 _Well, I've gotten a good impression from subtleties, but let's see._

They both feel the warmth of his Light essence flow through them, into the depths of their minds. And just as a relaxing breath drifts out, his Light leaves.

 _You are both lucky to face such challenges so early._

Luke's eyes furrow, disturbed to think anyone could dare call his pain lucky, yet he was mixed with astonishment for how quickly Terra had read them both. Terigo bit her tongue, the tongue of her own mind's torment, trying to believe his words, the same words that she has told herself for years. _I'm lucky..._

 _Your challenges are uniquely different from everyone else's training on Audinic, meaning you both can become wiser and stronger with that point of view. Stronger than your brother, Terigo. He lived a sheltered life compared to your life now, and he apparently had the most potential yet of our family. But stronger pains means stronger powers._

On the mention of her brother, Terigo's heart shot out in all directions. Luke felt it and he looks back and forth between them hoping to learn why.

 _And he also knows not to speak to you until you're stronger._

Terigo's eyes shoot wide, "What do you mean?" with a tremble to her voice. Then she fully pulls herself into the Mid.

 _I told Sente not to visit you from the afterlife because your training must be entirely different now; you have no one left to resurrect for your final test, so you must have harder challenges to achieve the same height of ascension. Any support Sente would give would only cheat your unique growth. Commendably, your father already understands this, so he hasn't visited you either..._

Terra's eyebrow rises in confusion, amongst his friendly face and he adds _...I see you choose to hide in the Mid, like the cowards out here. I'm—_

"They're not _cowards_ , and neither is _she_ ," Luke says with sudden resentment. He notices the hot sparks in his essence and begins calming them, nearly embarrassed and nearly ashamed of himself but feeling rightfully angry in defending others.

 _Quite an assumption considering you've only met two,_ with the flavor of Ben and Yoda, and Terra chuckles as if a playful child had said 'I'm going to take over the world,' _and... And I read now how you should know better than to let Darkness infect you from mere words,_ looking harmlessly disappointed.

Luke grumbles inside again, and again since he knew Terra felt him do it.

 _But Terigo, I'm glad you're aiming to overcome your dependence of the Mid, how you understand that it's used by underdeveloped, youthfulminds. The same minds that childishly renamed the Mid to the Light Side. Arrogantly._

Oddly, Luke felt no Darkness of bitter feelings from Terra, nor saw any hint of them in his expressions, even though by his words he clearly hated the Mids; Yoda, Ben, himself, and anyone else on the Jedi Council. Luke was trying to hold back bitter feelings, trying to keep a clear head.

 _Yes Luke, but also consider that Yoda was unable to guide you well enough to keep you from failing._

This time, on the 'word' Yoda, Luke immediately prepared himself for something that would hurt. So when Terra said 'failing,' he prevented heat from forming in his essence. Though days before, it would have seared all around him. And so he speaks with a serene mind, "Now it's clear, what you think about us, despite hiding it in the Light."

 _Hiding in the Light?_ Terra chuckles with a mix of feelings Luke couldn't place. In the back of Luke's mind, he was happy for a half-second for making someone chuckle so genuinely, until thoughts kicked in. Terra continues, _Well, I believe I've spent long enough here. I should get going. I hope our—_

Terigo instinctively steps forward, holding her breath, not wanting Terra to leave. But her mind was naturally steering her to the Light by telling her to be respectful of an elder's decision and be glad for anything he could tell them.

"So then that's just it?" Luke says, keeping calm. Terigo glances at him, knowing his words were another form of 'why.' Luke continues, "You insult Yoda for poor mentoring but you won't even try yourself? You say you won't help us fight the Sith until we're... older, but then you'll be older too, you'll be just as stronger than us then than as you _say_ —" Luke corrects himself, "...than as you _are_ now. You may even be dead."

Terigo immediately thinks it's more likely that they would be killed first and begins considering something...

Luke receives no response from Terra, just a fractional tilt of the head as if Terra was waiting for them to come to their own conclusion. Then he sees Terra look to Terigo, so he looks to her too. In their silence, Luke wonders if they were speaking to each other. He opens his mouth to ask, but feels a growing coldness of Terigo's essence, and sees layers of emotions on her face he had rarely seen on her for more than seconds.

Terigo had decided to momentarily abandon the Light, opening herself to Terra, showing her deeper hidden emotions. Those cold rocks and hot sparks around them. She knew Terra knew what they were. She knew he would stay if it would be best for the galaxy and not what's best for him or her. She knew he would know her concerns for being at risk of turning to the Dark. She knew he would know her desperation. But she _was_ desperate. Even if Terra hated her more for essentially whining—for an impulsive, selfish, disrespectful gesture—childish—she had to try something.

This was a plea.

Luke feels her deeper essence for a moment. There were three sections of cold rocks. One section was a cluster of small rocks that had no heat around them; he recognized them as her dire loneliness—people she missed. It was like the huge rock Leia had felt in him related to his father, but his was surrounded with heat and sparks. His though was like the other two sections in Terigo. Luke feels her second one was related to the future somehow, that she had hatred and fear or sadness about the future. But then the third rock, by far the largest, in her deepest center, obscured almost entirely by sparks, it was...

Then her essence closes up as she returns to the Mid to chant out-loud, and Terra looks more interested in the plants. The plea seemed to have failed. Luke wonders, _Maybe Terra didn't care; Terigo said she had only met him once. Maybe he was right not to care about so-called children. Maybe he did care but the galaxy needed him. Maybe it was what he was still hiding from them, for the reason he thinks they won't be pleased with him. Maybe he was hiding in the Light like Terigo hides in the Mid; he_ was _older, more skilled._

It was all unknown, and Terra was in power here. Luke could only go with what Terra was willing to do. So Luke says, "At least tell us about this place, and what you know about my father..." but suddenly debates with himself on whether he really wanted to know more about his father, whether it would weigh him down with Darkness.

 _I feel both of your longings, Luke and Terigo. But there is nothing any of us can do to ease that except to be patient and grow._

 _Luke: when I feel you are ready, I have a great many things to tell you about Anakin._

 _Terigo: we are too different in age to relate. You would grow increasingly more alone around me with someone so close yet so far away. It would hinder both our powers of Light—knowing you were growing Darker because of me. But, staying with Luke would give you what you need, regardless of whatever skills you could better learn from me, especially since you chose to childishly plead against an elder's guidance just then. Children need to stick together._ Terra said the last line with such assumed camaraderie that it makes Luke feel disturbed to feel soothed by Terra's presence.

 _I hope there are no other objections. I have spent far too much time here as it is. But I look forward to seeing you decades from now,_ giving a friendly goodbye-smile with such charm that it would be hard to forget.

Terra turns to walk away but stays there. Luke still feels Terra's essence in him and Terigo eyes Luke as if to say 'Don't you dare! Keep your mouth shut.' _So it's a test,_ Luke realizes, _unless I want to be disregarded further as a 'pleading child_.' So he grudgingly keeps quiet, burning his eyes into Terra's back. _But I can't possibly be about to let him go! The last Jedi Master, right here!_

But Luke couldn't think of what else to try. So after a very long moment, Terra begins walking away.

 _Good, Luke. In the years to come, think of the word Vader. Not really the name... The word. Call to the Force, see what you hear. I'm interested in what she tells_ you _. You... Well... Do see what she says._

Luke's eyes jolt wide, almost yelling _WAIT_ out of sheer desperate impulse to know more. _And she?_

 _I'll see you again, once you've both killed each other._

And he walks backwards to wave goodbye, as if showing respect for those who use gestures.


	17. CHAPTER 17 -- Yoda

Chapter 17

 **Y** **ODA**

* * *

WARMTH LEAVES LUKE'S BODY from Terra's essence disconnecting, now that he was hundreds of feet away, much farther than either Luke or Terigo could have stayed connected. The lack of soothing warmth makes Luke feel tense and cold for a moment by comparison, until he realizes this was the normal warmth of his body. It makes him feel a little disturbed again to now almost miss Terra's connection. It makes him feel a little manipulated too.

"Did you read anything else from him?" Luke says, keeping a mostly tepid essence.

"No," Terigo says, failing to force a chuckle as if he said a sick joke. "I stopped once I realized who he was. I didn't want to be any more disrespectful or childish than we are. I didn't want him to feel bothered."

"Well," Luke grumble-sighs through his nose, "I already know I'm like a child compared to him, he didn't need to rub it in my face." Knowing there's more dignity in remaining polite regardless of how disrespectful someone is, he says half serious, "So I'm not so sure I'm concerned with how he feels if he is going to disrespect us like that—

"He's not disrespecting us, he's 700 years old," Terigo says, then collects herself more into the Mid.

Luke now feels conflicted with who was actually polite or rude, concerned he was disrespectful to anyone much less a great Jedi Master. He mumbles, "That still doesn't give him the right to be rude."

"He wasn't being rude, we were. He was just responding truthfully to our disrespect. Grounding us."

Terigo was washing her mind of concerns and returning to the Light. She begins allowing the nonchalance of trust for Terra to overtake her, whether she really did trust him or not. She particularly grows Light by allowing herself to indulge her curiosity for the reacting, living vines all around them. The plant's exterior feel like flesh. Malleable tentacles, able to move rapidly and still hold moisture. Some even feel like fingers.

Though Luke hadn't fully appreciated plants until his aunt's were gone, Terigo always had. She always liked them for the way she could feel them, unlike the deadened feeling of anything man-made. She takes her time with these new ones, remembering home for its surrounding life, and remembering the challenges now of being surrounded by a barren feeling of death, wherever she went. It was all deserts and structures and technology, everywhere. But these vines seem more alive than anything she had seen. Though they feel the same to her essence as any plant, they still seem like a sort of halfway point between two things she loves: people and plants.

Luke remains a bit oblivious to her moment. He was continuing to mull over everything, trying to keep as serene as he can to better process the flurry of sensitive information, _The word Vader..._ yet the act of calming his heat by clearing his thoughts was proving to be time-consuming because thoughts were what he was after.

After his ears grow used to the shifting plants, the faintest sounds of trickling spring water becomes noticeable. That's when Luke's thoughts begin to take part in everything around him, with his attention half outside, half inside.

He begins playing with the vines as well, and when Terigo sees this, she comes over to share the experience and socialize. But when she opens her mouth, Luke says, "I can contact Yoda here."

Terigo's mouth closes.

Luke explains, "I have to. There's so much I need to ask him. Too much. But I need to try. It may take time to tune in well enough, but I know what it takes now, now that I know what the Light feels like, compared to the amount I had when I first spoke to my father in the afterlife years ago."

Terigo stands very still for a moment, unsure of how she feels about this, until she tells herself it's all for the better. She smiles, "Well... good. I hope you're able to achieve that level of Light. I hope you're able to master speaking to the dead. Let's see it."

Luke sighs. "You should head back, protect Han and Chewie."

A jolt of concern goes through Terigo, but it fades quick enough, reading why it's better she does head back.

Luke continues, "I don't know how long I'll be here and it takes a long time to get back, so—"

"Yeah..." she confirms.

She turns to leave, but stops with a subdued feeling of dread, like she would never see him again. She wouldn't know it was the area's concentration of the Force, from the plant life, allowing just a tad more connection to the stream of time. Luke turns to see why she stopped, feeling a lack of Light in her, but then it returns with her determined smile.

"See you soon," she says. "Good luck," and steps to leave. But she stops again, conveying in her expression that she's waiting for him to return to the Light now as well, but not just so he can contact the dead.

As a goodbye, Luke had given a faint chin-nod and bleak smile until he realizes why she's waiting. It makes him smile a bit more from feeling thankful, then he focuses on this feeling to give a proper smile. "Thank you. I'll see you soon."

Terigo turns away but slowly, so she could be sure his Lightness would be staying. As she leaves, Luke turns to walk towards the spring.

He finds a shady place dense with vines and sits in their center as they wither away just far enough.

He closes his eyes and begins focusing on everything that has caused him to feel Light, to feel happy. Everything that he's thankful for. Or more so, every _one_.

As he does, he finds his mind immediately jumps to conclusions of loss, of how he'll lose the people he's thinking about. He finds it hard to _not_ think about loss. It seems to be the only rational conclusion, especially now that he was infamous among thousands of Imperials and thousands more that succumb to their rein, all of which would gladly destroy anything he cares for. Happiness seems to be an impossible delusion. Not just now, but ever. So even just _focusing_ on _only_ what makes him happy would mean ignoring the probable, ignoring reality, casting an illusion on himself.

 _Just like the Mid, in a way, clearing all else from the mind..._

He scoffs with a wry smirk, _So I'll hide in the Light for a bit, if that's what must be done._

And with that, he finds it much less difficult. Almost fun to think of a peaceful world, a world of adventure...

So when he starts wanting to speak with Yoda, Yoda appears almost immediately.

Yoda nods slowly...

"Strong, you have become."

Luke, especially from the influence of the Light, feels comforted by Yoda's raspy voice. But he didn't know how to begin, how to explain his concerns without letting in the Darkness associated with them and breaking his connection to Yoda.

"Very strong," Yoda continues. And with half curiosity, half dire concern, "Different you have become."

"Master Yoda..." and Luke bows his head some with how those words felt so much truer now. Now he had a much firmer understanding of how weak he was, how strong 900 was, and how the their two ages differed so completely. He continues, "A great deal has happened since we last spoke. It's been over two years. If you are able to read my mind..."

Yoda's raises an eyebrow.

"...It would be quicker, and safer."

"Safer, you say?" Both Yoda and Luke straighten their posture, portraying their seriousness. "Hmmm." And Yoda closes his eyes to focus deeply.

Luke feels tepid warmth enter his mind, Yoda's essence, digging deep. It's just barely Light enough to read minds. Luke sits serene, welcoming the connection, knowing everything will be better with Yoda's guidance.

After some time, Yoda withdraws his essence with no change in his empty expression, and with no change in essence temperature that Luke could feel. Yoda was indeed a true master. Yet he says "Hmmm" with a concerning tone, despite no concern in his essence. "Many questions you have. Answers you seek." And with a gaze as scornful as his tone, as if to provoke, he says, "But you are too young. You are not ready," and he continues looking Luke in the eyes, sternly, unwavering.

Luke's eyebrows only rise at first, surprised and disappointed. He thought he was ready for anything with everything as of recent, but he immediately realizes that he already knows he has a long way to go, _Terigo's people become Jedi at age 50 at best, and who knows how long it takes anyone else_. He just had hoped he was ready enough to hear some answers.

But his eyebrows lower with concern and his mouth opens, wanting to demand— _No, ask_ —for answers because it was too important to wait. But he pulls his mouth closed. He realizes Yoda would have already read the importance and would have weighed the risk of waiting vs. telling. _It_ would _be rude, wouldn't it, to think I know better than someone older. Even to ask 'why.' And it'd be stupid too._ So he keeps his mouth shut.

With solemn respect, Luke reluctantly says, "I, understand. I will wait, until I'm ready. I await your instructions on how to proceed." With some effort, he manages to look Yoda in the eyes, matching his unwavering gaze, accepting his scorn.

Yoda's face brightens more than Luke had ever seen. With the hint of a very serious, hopeful smile, he instructs, "There is no why. There is only trust. Passed the test you have. Ready, you are."

Bewilderment floods Luke, then relief and eagerness take over as he tries to hide how glad he is. He wouldn't realize that Yoda had given him this test years ago, but Ben had convinced Yoda to train him anyways. Nor would he realize Yoda had tried to teach him about 'no why' during his training; it was mentioned too briefly, when they were both exhausted for the day.

Yoda sighs. "Dangerous is their Light Side." He pauses to sense Luke's reaction, to see if his emotions turn Dark—whiny or turbulent—like a child, like how Luke usually was around him.

But Luke had been preparing himself. He kept calm. Treating this like his pain training, he calms any heat and tries to stay Light, eager to learn whatever Yoda is gracious enough to give.

Further impressed, Yoda continues, "Dangerous for many reasons, it is. Dangerous, those two are."

 _Those two._ Luke shifts, mildly discomforted, preparing for the worst, and the vines recoil again. Apparently, in Luke's stillness, they had crept back trying to reclaim their spot.

Yoda sees Luke is able to handle more, "The sorrow of loss is inevitable darkness. A true Jedi must feel _no change_ , should they lose what they care about. No change comes from changing not your emotions."

"But—" _No, stop. How can I ask this respectfully? If I don't understand why, I'll just make mistakes._ "Help me understand. I don't know what I'm supposed to feel. Is that not a contradiction? How can I protect those I care about if I'm not supposed to care about them?"

"No. Care you must. Care is most important. But those you care about must not be more than others. There must be no change in emotion, no change in the Force, when what you care about is gone, because it is _not_ gone. It is all around. It is everyone, is the galaxy. Care must be for the galaxy. Nothing more, nothing less, not even yourself."

Luke almost said 'but' again. _Careful._ It still didn't feel right. Something still didn't make sense. He had realized all this before when speaking to Terigo about the contradiction, but something inside of him didn't agree. Living in that kind of void just didn't feel right. "My power, it was strongest—incredibly strong—when I used the Light, _their_ Light Side. When I was happ—"

"Greatest power comes with greatest risk. Too much. Even for Yoda," Yoda says with finality, adding no explanation, as if testing him again, or at least letting Luke calm himself. The pause allows Luke to realize his discomfort and his faintly growing heat. When Luke settles, Yoda explains, "You are too old for learning this, too young for understanding this. Trained only orphans, we did. One day, learn of a Jedi with a mother, you will." Luke was too caught up in other thoughts to realize Yoda meant Anakin. "Then you will _know_ , only _our_ Light Side is safe. Strong power it has because there is no risk. One weak Jedi is better than one-hundred Jedi dead. And weak we are _not_."

Instinct. It was instinct, Luke realizes, that tells him this isn't right. That incredible feeling, when Leia laughs, when Terigo healed him; instinct told him this was the reason to be alive, that you _can't let that go_. So against all manners, Luke asks, "But if I could _control_ the pain, _not_ get mad, not get sad when someone dies, but be happy for it. Treat pain as a chance to learn. And treat death as a chance for new bonds."

Though slamming his ghost-cane down made no sound, Yoda's shout makes up for it, "NO! Do not repeat words of _fools_. A fool I am _not_. Have I not tried in 900 years, you think? Was Yoda not a child too? Did Yoda not have loved ones? Did they not _die_ when the Force kept _Yoda_ alive?" There seemed to be a great bitterness in Yoda's tone, and in how he thrust his cane at Luke, even though there was no change in Yoda's essence. "Yoda knew the Light. Yoda failed. Yoda knew the Mid," —Luke brings his eyes from his lap to look at him for knowing the word— "and Yoda failed _not_. Yoda is strong for leaving the Light. Yoda is alive for leaving it. No one must fail again."

Yoda could see Luke was still struggling with reason, as if it didn't matter what Yoda thought, only what he did. So Yoda adds, "Look around you. Think others are happy do you? No, no happiness. Nowhere. Too much pain to stay happy. So why should you be? Because you have power? Think you are special do you? Deserve it you think? And they do not? Selfish. Better than them you think you are. Think like the Dark Side you do. Think like _their_ Light Side you do."

Power, specialness, entitlement... Those weren't Luke's thoughts, not entirely. Even though his desire for happiness now seems selfish, he never truly thought of himself as better than anyone or more deserving. Or did he? Either way, he feels the need to defend himself, but feels helpless too. The burden of a Jedi. The _last_ Jedi. "How could the galaxy _not_ be in pain, no matter what I do. It's too much for one person..." _Can I never be happy?_ as he looks to his hand. _This, 'scar,' this reminder of pain._ "Master Yoda. My hand, the cybernetics, it's broken. I can't use—"

"Then it is _gone_." So stern Yoda was. And was he angry too?

Deep concern seizes Luke. Yoda waits for Luke to return to the Mid, to clear his confusion and begin listening again rather than whining like he is. But Luke was caught on the thought of losing use of his lightsaber... Luke says, "Is there really _nothing_ to learn from their Light Side? Not even _healing_?" And he tries to bite his tongue, "W—Even _you_ are getting mad."

"Another type of ' _why_ ,' that is," trying to hit Luke's eye with his ghost-cane. "What knows you in your youth. If calm were my words, feel them would you? Are powerful words to be spoken without power? No. Yoda does not feel anger, Yoda _shows_ anger. There is a difference. Feel a change in me did you? No, you did not, because there was not. Blinded you are by your eyes. Terra, too, is blinded. Says powerful words with happiness, with laughter. Serious he is but serious he does not show. False trust he has in fate, and false trust he tries to receive. Dangerous that mind is."

Luke takes a deep breath to calm his mind, hoping to hear more if he shows good behavior.

Yoda sighs, unsure himself on whether he should proceed. "Their Light Side..." Yoda waits for Luke's essence to respond... It was somewhat heated but steady enough... "...is blinded, like the Dark Side it is. Illusions. Lies. Excuses. These are what fuel _their_ Light. When dark is what the world becomes, trapped is what they become. Trapped in delusions of goodness. Cling to the last remaining goodness they do, refuse to see reality. Insane, they become."

Luke'sbreath stops this time. _Terigo._

"Her, and her people. Rate of failure, too high, much too high. Many turn to the Dark Side when _they_ fail, and executed is what they become, not saved. The only safe path is the Light Side, _our_ Light Side. Love no one and you can save everyone. The path to become a Jedi is sacrifice. The Dark Side, their Light Side, _they_ sacrifice and go _insane_. Our Light Side, _we_ sacrifice and become _sane_. The only true defense against Darkness, it is. The only Light Side, it is."

But Luke had grown too concerned. Strong thoughts of Terigo, _Surely she isn't insane... She's proven that, hasn't she? Her sense of invincibility is real, isn't it? With all that she can do, with what she's endured._

"No more," Yoda says, sounding disappointed and dismissive. "Too Dark you have become. Reckless you still are. Too young. Leave you must. Return—"

"Leave? Too young?" Luke tries to hold in his concern and frustration. "How does that not make things for me _worse_? How does that _help_ me? You just _insult_ me and—" and shuts his mouth, catching his error too late.

"It is _you_ who does not see it as help," Yoda says. "Clear I am. Direct. Without hate. Without politics. Without nice lies. But..." he sees Luke's angst and senses it's for his error, so Yoda continues with a supportive tone, "...But, see this already you do, I think. Might know this, from training, with her... Only the Dark Side sees it as insulting. But not us, not our Light Side. Yell at us they could, say the worst they could, and our mind stays clear. Strong. Powerful. Only our Light Side can see the truth, can stay strong. What say you? Hmmm?"

Luke looks into Yoda's eyes, drained and solemn, defeated not only by Yoda but by himself, "...If you say I'm too young... then I am. The only logical way to respond to insults is to... accept the truth in them, so you can overcome it. Insults... pain... it can be good. It won't lead to suffering if you don't let it." He takes a calming breath with his eyes aimed at the soil.

"Hmmmm..." Yoda contemplates. "Powerful you have become... Power is in the mind, not the hand. Gooood, good..." he trails off into silence. Meditative. As if sensing Luke or allowing him to calm further.

With all the heat, all the racing thoughts, Luke not only reflexively returns to the Mid, but wills himself there. Now only the water can be heard, and the creaking of succulent vines crawling towards him.

"After this," Yoda begins, though Luke's head doesn't rise from its wilted state, "plan to speak to Anakin do you?" Unknown to Luke, his tone had indicated this was another test question.

Another long moment goes by as Luke clears his mind of all Darkness surrounding that issue.

"No," Luke says. "I haven't spoken to him since the morning after he... died."

"Hm, read this I have."

"But, I originally thought it hurt him to see me, like he didn't want to return to the Dark Side—how we were talking and our connection started to fade and he abruptly left, saying he was sorry..." Luke pauses to take a calming breath. "Later, after talking with Terigo, I thought it was because _I_ was becoming too Dark to speak to him, _because_ I was speaking to him..."

"Both. I am certain. And. Hurt you more, he did not wish to do."

Luke's eyes rise to meet Yoda's, then wilt down again into detached thought. "Then I'm only going to see him when my resistance against the Dark Side is stronger."

Yoda nods, deeply approving. "Good, good..."

Luke takes another breath before approaching the topic again. "The word Vader..." and looks to Yoda for a response.

"Hmmm," Yoda says. "A mystery this is. Guess, I could. But no good would it do. Only confusion, Darkness would follow. Too young you still are. Speak to Anakin you must, answers he may have. When you are ready, when speak to him you can, then ready for answers will you be."

Luke thinks on it and remembers one more thing, just as Yoda remembers the same.

"Terra," Yoda says. "Call to the Force he told you to do? Hmm... Then maybe answers can be found only by you."

With a final elderly murmur, Yoda acknowledges how Luke has long-reached his limit on what he's able to absorb. "Enough for today. Rest is what your mind needs, for thinking. Time. Be patient. Want help you do? Be patient. That is my help. Too much you have learned. Absorb today, leave thinking for tomorrow, for every tomorrow. True wisdom takes a century."

Luke looks at Yoda for his last words. _Didn't Terigo recite that line too?_

Yoda sighs, knowing what turmoil he's about to leave in Luke's mind. But with his mind on the future, the Force assures him it's safe to leave. Or more like least risky. "Done well you have. Proud of you I am. Happiness is forever when protecting the galaxy, because the galaxy is always in need. And happy you will be." Luke looks at Yoda on those words. "But leave now I must."

Yoda waits for Luke's acknowledgment, which he gives only by looking down but not all the way to his lap again. _Is such a happiness possible? Without seeing Leia laugh ever again?_

Yoda nods with an affirming mumble. "See me again you will, when killed your emotions you have done."

Luke's eyes rise on this just as Yoda fades away. _Those words were similar to what Terra said too. So much seems similar. Their religions were all one once, weren't they, here on this planet..._

Now there was only the sound of water. Not even the ruffle of clothing. Luke remains motionless, partially wilted forward, sitting cross-legged with his hand cupping his dead one meditatively in his lap. He was practically in shock from everything Yoda and Terra have said, from too much said.

 _Should I have ever left the Mid? How can I dare leave it now, without everything consuming me..._

 _Should I even leave it to train resistance...?_

 _Should I even go back to tell anyone..._

 _...There is safety in solitude..._

Soaked with spring water, the soil burns as a deeper red than that without. The sky's reflection casts a brilliant blue upon the gentle water, with such a glow that even in its serenity, its blue light lies as a powerful contrast to the fiery red soil. Among the fire, Luke allows the creeping vines to touch him. To crawl over him. To grip his skin. To hold his hand. Wrapping along his bare arms. As the last touch he may ever truly feel...

...slowly encasing him like a cocoon...


	18. CHAPTER 18 -- Leia

Chapter 18

 **L** **EIA**

* * *

THE ROSY-BLACK STEEL of the command center begins blending with the darkening rose of the sunset. Luke dismounts his speeder and stands before the building a few hundred feet away, at a distance where he could easily take off if seeing his friends come out was too much. He stands with the whole base in view, taking it all in, feeling Terigo's presence inside. He debates. Calms. Debates. Calms. Until he settles on a decision.

The halls of the building give off a soothing hum in their otherwise dimly lit silence. Luke's feet wish to drag as he walks towards Terigo's presence, but duty pulls them forward.

 _This must be a long struggle for her too, having felt me in the Mid for about a mile now. She must be worried..._

But down the hall he hears her laugh and Chewbacca gargle playfully.

 _Or she's too trusting that everything will be alright..._

Entering a brightly lit room, he finds Chewbacca and Terigo play-fighting. Chewbacca was trying to grab or hit her as she uses her Jedi sense to dodge and push him.

Chewbacca stops and waves at Luke before going over for a huge hug. Terigo almost keeps her back turned, turning her ear to him but not her eyes.

She says in a cheerful enough voice, "I prepared dinner for you when I felt you coming. Han will be downstairs in a minute." Then she pulls stuff away from a chair that they must have knocked over in their play so that Luke could sit down at the table where a plate of food was ready. She immediately returns to the center of the room and taunts Chewbacca to play more as if nothing were wrong, aside from her blatantly avoiding to look at him.

 _She's not even connecting her essence to me. But she doesn't feel disappointed like when she's avoided me before. She knows there's something wrong. Of course she does._ Instead, he feels her wavering nearly constantly between tepid coldness and frail warmth. _Seeing my emotionless face or feeling my emotions must be too much for her right now. It must be very hard for her to even be in the same room... But that's like her isn't it, to endure it on purpose, to fight it._

Terigo stops their fun when she feels Han coming down the hall. Han enters to see Luke and rushes over. Han almost squeezes him, but gives him a firm two-pats on the arm instead, smiling.

Han says conversationally optimistic, "Hey what's wrong? Terra here filled us in on your day together."

Luke and Terigo both blink, aimed at Han.

"What," Han says looking to Terigo. " ' _Sweetheart_ ' doesn't fit anymore, does it, jumping to your death like that."

"Well you'll have to pick a different pet name for me," Terigo says with joking bitterness. "That's the name of my greatest grandfather," motioning to the distant meeting they came from.

"What? Why didn't you say so?"

"I read you weren't interested in much of the details, just how Luke was doing and when he'd be back," she says. And Han looks to Luke for the answer.

Luke had prepared his answer over many miles, but still finds it hard to say, feeling like he was lying, "I'll be fine. I have a lot to think about, so I'll need to spend time alone to work it out."

Han doesn't like the sound of that. _Sounds like he'll be brooding._ But the only way Han knew to solve problems was to evade or cheat. So he chooses the first and foremost by evading the subject, "Well, good news," hoping another brotherly slap on the arm would snap him out of it, "I got communications running in this place. Contacted the General and Leia. She'll be connected in a minute. Come on," motioning for Luke to come upstairs with him.

Luke blinks again, his gaze locking on Han's eyes. He wasn't expecting to have to speak to her so soon. He lets his gaze float away. "You go ahead. I should eat first. And I'm sure you two will need to patch things up before we talk."

Han almost denies needing to, knowing Leia would be more interested in Luke than him, but he gets the hint. "Alright... Jedi." He raises a hand to rub Luke's head out of whatever mess it's in, then decides against it, then decides 'screw it' and lightly tussles Luke's already windblown hair. Han gives an eye to Terigo, as if to say 'keep an eye on him,' but he sees a hint of helplessness with her smile back and it makes him worry.

Han leaves and Luke looks to his food, _Will I be more likely to fall apart here or alone?_ The smell hits his nose and he realizes how with his Mid mentality ignoring all desires, he had forgotten how hungry he really was.

But he eats slowly, meditatively, yet with his eyes open, watching Terigo and Chewbacca speak telepathically, and play, and smile, and laugh. Luke watches, testing himself, and preparing his emotions to say goodbye if he decides to leave tonight.

.

Han slumps into a chair by a comm station, it had been a long day, and the worst could be yet to come, knowing Leia was minutes away. When a red light blinks, he presses a button and Leia's torso appears before him in hologram-blue.

They both look at each other for a moment, not exactly pleased. Both go to cross their arms but instead recline uncomfortably in their seat, resigned. Leia sighs, half with relief of the mission's progress and half glad to see him, so some of her tenseness goes away. Both were tired of fighting, they knew it never got them anywhere, it was just annoying at this point because both were anything but generous with apologies.

"Where's Luke? How is he?" she says.

Glad things weren't aimed at him, yet unsure how to answer, Han grumbles. "He's downstairs, eating... I don't know. He seems to be going through something, but I also haven't been around him much in the last year. So..." and he shrugs. Seeing Leia's worry, he tries to look on the bright side, "But he pretty much got us this _base_ , single handedly—well, _her_ too. _She's_ something else _entirely_."

"How so," Leia demands, trying to keep her worry and disgust at bay. She still wanted any reason to execute this woman, but her questions were equally if not more so about the safety of her brother, and Han.

"Well, she jumped to her death but then ran around taking out about 50 stormtroopers, all while smiling, like it was just a game to her."

"What?" Leia became both disturbed and astonished.

"Yeah, she probably healed her legs like she did with a hole in her hand. Last mission she blocked a shot aimed at me with her _hand_ , and then healed it in less than a minute."

 _She saved Han, and that kind of devotion and skill,_ Leia thinks. _Is she insane or_...?

"She says they spent all day training that sort of thing today. She seemed impressed." He chuckles and shifts more comfortably, loosening up. "Guess you won't have to have so many bodyguards around once Luke teaches you how to heal. That'd be nice for a change."

She wasn't amused by his joke. "But—" then grumbles at herself. She was feeling that the heat and coldness of her essence was becoming too turbulent for staying clear-headed, but it often felt more rational to feel how she truly felt than to control her emotions. "But how's _Luke_? You still haven't—Tell me details. Before I speak with him. Something, anything. Everything. _Please_."

"Let's just say, I have a lot more appreciation for you when you're angry at me," eyeing her to let her know this was one of those times, and to silently say 'cool it.'

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" pissed with how Han doesn't take much seriously.

He sighs, "That you somehow find it in you to _not_ electrocute me. I don't see how you could resist sometimes," knowing full well he can be an ass. "Even Luke almost did, but—"

"Wh—He—He used _lightning_?!" choking on her fear and worry about Luke turning that Dark.

Han _knew_ this was going to be bad. "Aren't you supposed to be doing that calming thing Luke taught you, so your power doesn't—" he waves his hand flippantly, "—do what his did."

She was already realizing this, so she ignores that Han's comment had more attack in it than concern. Ashamed and mad at herself, she closes her eyes and starts concentrating on taking deep calming breaths through her nose. _I have to be better at this than Luke if I ever hope to help him. Breathe. Breathe. Clear your mind._

Watching Leia do this allows Han to calm himself too, and to reconsider his priorities. He too feels ashamed. He too was worried about Luke, but things were getting pretty deep, and he never liked the heat. All the screaming and throwing and hitting his father did may have toughened him up, but he was far past done with that sort of personal hostility. He didn't _need_ anyone in his life. But, after bonding with these two, he found he couldn't help _wanting_ them there.

" _I'm sorry_ ," they both say nearly in unison, and their eyes meet but almost look away shamefully, having not expected the other one to apologize too.

Leia adds, "I'm sorry. I'm tired of fighting."

"Yeah, me too."

"Next time, tell me right away when I'm getting mad. Or worried. I have a long ways to catch up to Luke. I shouldn't be feeling any emotions."

"Well, I don't know I'd like that," cautiously adding some sarcasm. "Sometimes his Jedi Mood is a bit creepy."

She smirks just a hair. And Luke's Jedi Mood _was_ a bit creepy. Han smirks too once he sees it's safe to. And they both sigh and look at each other for a moment, half longingly.

Leia starts softly, calm, trying hard to keep her dire concern at bay, "So,—"

"I'll tell you everything I know. I'm worried about him too."

.

Luke finishes the last bite of dinner. Now that the uplifting rejuvenation of food has fully kicked in, his brooding was a third of what it was, but still there. It allows him to begin reconsidering his decision, partially. _Maybe one last night with emotions, to say goodbye to myself. Good feelings, if I can manage_ —

Chewbacca sits down across from Luke.

He waves to Terigo and motions at Luke, thinking something to Terigo.

Her voice starts in the Mid, replying quietly, "He needs to think, Chewie..."

Luke lies, "It's fine. Whatever it is."

She sighs and perks up just a little, hopeful. She hopes he was intentionally asking for a distraction, because she certainly wanted to distract him from whatever was keeping him in the Mid, but wanted to respect his space if he wanted it. "Well, Chewie asked if you still need more time after Han's done, if he could say hi to Leia."

Luke looks to Chewbacca, a little surprised, without showing it in the least. "That's fine. Please take all the time you want."

Chewbacca motions for Terigo to take a seat too. She only glances at Luke to see that he doesn't object, so she sits.

Chewbacca thinks to Terigo, _Though, Han speaking to Leia first might make things worse. They love each other, they both love how strong the other one is, they love how the other one doesn't put up with anything, but 'anything' means each other too. She reminds me of Han kinda. That's one reason I like her so much._

Terigo wonders if the topic of Leia would be good or bad to stay on, which way it might pull Luke, if at all. So she tests it, having felt a particular 'flavor' when Chewbacca mentions Leia, "She's like a sister?"

Luke looks to Chewbacca, mostly unaffected, but starts to become curious, wondering if letting this distract him would help.

Excited that Terigo picked up on more than just his thoughts, Chewbacca replies, _Yeah. She doesn't treat me like I'm invisible anymore._

"Invisible?" Terigo asks.

 _Yeah. Humans treat me like I'm invisible. I used to like that. They didn't even give me a metal for destroying the Death Star with Han and Luke, but I didn't mind, it would have just caused more problems. Invisible is safer. And humans are easy to scare if they bother us. I like being around them. But now..._ motioning to Han, thinking of Leia, _I don't see Han as much because he's around Leia a lot, and seeing them love each other makes me want that too. Leia understands that, Han doesn't._

Chewbacca notices how empty Luke looks, and how he hasn't said a word. Luke almost looked meditative, and Chewbacca knew not to bother Luke when he meditates, but this seemed different even to him. So he tries to cheer him up.

 _Speaking of invisible._ Chewbacca swings his arm across the table to tussle Luke's hair but even his long arm couldn't reach. _This kid talks over me all the time._ Playfully teasing, making another gesture at Luke. _I hate when people do that, but everyone does, so I'm used to it. Except Han, usually, because he understands me. So you should teach Luke to understand me too, that would be great._

Luke had looked to Chewbacca again when he gestured at him, then he looks to Terigo for a translation.

"He wants you to try mind reading him again."

Luke glances at Chewbacca for a moment, then turns his head away in thought, concerned that any effort to read minds would involve leaving the Mid, which could be disastrous.

Chewbacca tries to touch his head again and gives what was clearly a whine, as if saying 'come on buddy, let's play?' Then he gives another shorter whine that was almost a whimper, clearly sad and worried for Luke.

The concern catches Luke by surprise, tickling him underneath the Mid's mask, softening his heart just a hair. It was just enough to make Luke give a short sigh and agree. "Ok... Go ahead..."

Both Chewbacca and Terigo perk up, shifting in their seats.

But Luke adds, "But I'll need to touch your hand or something."

"No you won't," Terigo says, with a faint smirk.

"But, that's the only way I've been able to with you and Leia."

"Yeah but you shouldn't need to, with the amount of power you have. Try it."

Luke shifts uncomfortably in his seat, straightens his pose. He sighs, and looks at Chewbacca's forehead.

Chewbacca looks back, re-thinking what he told Terigo.

After a long moment, Luke's posture slumps an inch, "I can't. I could only catch that it was about me."

Terigo keeps a supportive, interested tone, "Did you want to read his mind or connect with him?"

"Hm? That's the same thing, isn't it?"

"Hm, well," she almost chuckles at herself, "maybe I wasn't very clear last time. Do you want to connect to get his mind's information? Or do you want to connect to bond with him as a person? The first is selfish, antipathic, Dark; the second is empathic, Light."

Luke thinks, _As a person... Of course Chewie's a person, but... Hm. How strange: my mind hasn't exactly... registered him as one, he just blended in, maybe because he isn't human, or doesn't have the same facial expressions, so my mind hasn't acknowledged him as an equal being, even though I know he is. How strange..._

So Luke tries looking Chewbacca directly in the eyes. Seeing him.

And Chewbacca notices, causing him to shift because... it was possibly the first time Luke had made _real_ eye-contact with him, not through him, not near him. Chewbacca could feel that Luke saw _him_ —not just a noisy Wookie—for the first time.

But before Luke tries to read him, Luke looks away, having concerns again. He still wasn't sure if he should connect to anyone now, or even attempt the Light. _But, if I don't_ now _, would Chewbacca be insulted that I don't see him as a person. I should see him as one, of course, he deserves that, he's as good of a friend as Han. I owe him that much, especially if I never see him again._

So he looks back to Chewbacca. "Ok. Let's try again. Think something simple. And keep repeating it for a while."

Over the course of a minute, Luke tries many things with his own mind and what he thinks about Chewbacca. And finally, they notice his success when he goes through many emotions. The emotions were faint on his face due to being less in the Mid, but they were there: embarrassment, shame, amusement, revelation.

Luke softly slumps his elbow to the table and plops his cheek in his hand, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry I've interrupted you, and ignored you." He tries to smile apologetically to him and Chewbacca tries to tussle his head again.

Terigo smiles in awe.

Luke's head slides further along his hand to grab his hair and look down. None of this was getting any easier. "I'm sorry," and sighs, "but I'm tired. I'm going to speak with Leia and go to bed."

"Ok, beds are on the left," Terigo says fairly neutrally. She was hopeful Leia will snap him out of this state, yet who could know.

Luke stands up and they both almost pat the other's arms good night, but both decide not to. Both were concerned of what might happen if the connection sends thoughts they can't handle. Chewbacca says goodnight, so Luke looks Chewbacca in the eyes, "Goodnight, Chewie," and heads towards where he senses Han.

.

Han and Leia both sigh and take in everything that they've discussed. Leia closes her eyes and breathes deep to make sure her essence stays calm.

"Alright," she says, "Well you look tired, you should get some rest. We'll be there soon enough."

"Yeah," Han sighs again, ready to lay down now.

And they just sort of look at each other for a bit, longingly, mostly, but also reevaluating each other.

Han always knew things in his life could only ever get worse, but this part may have actually gotten better. She was the only truly good thing in his life, even when she wasn't. But it was still worth it. _She_ was worth it. So when he speaks next, he's a bit embarrassed—or rather ashamed—of how the words weren't that difficult to say in earnest. Even after more than a year of never saying them at all.

"I love you."

He had meant the words more now than he ever had. So when Leia doesn't seem to react and just looks at his eyes, he immediately regrets putting himself out there to be smacked down, and—

But she smiles, warmly, exhausted, weighed down with so much in her life, but so grateful for his devotion and everything he puts up with. So she follows with their usual inside-joke:

"I know."

Han almost feels struck down at first, that she was bitter enough to joke. _Fair enough, I am a pain. But at a time like this?_

So just to be sure he knew she was serious, she resigns to add, "I love you too."

It was the first time they had really ever both been sentimental at the same time. So after a moment, Han smiles more than smirks, and scoff-chuckles warmly. Then they gesture their silent goodbyes as he pulls himself up to leave.

.

From the dark hall, Luke joins his broken hand with his real one, rests them on his lap, and sits down. He looks below Leia, still trying to prepare what to say.

"Luke," sighing a smile. Her chest loosens when she sees him, but tightens up again when she sees his deadened face.

At the sight of her, a weak smile does manage to break through Luke's efforts for a moment.

Leia's desperation rises, "Han's told me everything, that he knows. I'm bringing a ship with a cybernetics medical department. We're bringing a fleet in two days. Just hold out, _be patient_ , don't do anything until we get your hand fixed."

 _Be patient._ These were Yoda's words too. But regarding his hand, Yoda had also said, _Then it is gone._

Luke fades into thought rather than respond, so Leia says, "I damn near flipped when I heard you went rushing into a fully armed base with no plans, I mean when _I_ do it we've planned for months if not spent years collecting intel. For an operation like that it would take a specially trained team," w _hich the four of you apparently are,_ she thinks.

Luke only looks up at her calmly. Leia ashamedly remembers she _also_ needs to keep her essence calm, so she takes a very long blink and a deep breath through her nose. He watches her and tries not to feel proud. He tries to remember training together so he can work on killing how wonderful it made him feel. But he snaps himself out of it when he realizes it's too much for him, returning his thoughts to the present.

"I'm sorry that I've worried you," Luke begins, "but there may not have been time to get the upper-hand. I went in knowing my skill from previous missions and from seeing Terigo's skill as well. But knowing what I know now, I should have waited. Their new sensors and technology..."

"Han told me about what happened after the Perk machines."

He wasn't that surprised they talked about it. They care about him. "I wouldn't have been able to recover alone. Not without Han, or especially Terigo. She..." _All the more reason to not go alone...? Or, all the more reason to train for staying alone._

At this distance, Leia could only feel the simplest of Luke's emotions, and her inability to feel him when he was this 'close' yet actually light-years away only adds to her frustration. But she saw a softness in him when he mentioned Terigo, though didn't know how to feel about it without being there to feel details. "You care about her. That woman," saying 'that woman' gently enough so not to hurt him.

He looks to Leia. He didn't know what he felt about Terigo anymore, what to believe, or that he should be feeling anything at all about anything. "It doesn't matter what I feel. It will only endanger everyone. I may have survived the Emperor's plan to show me your death,—"

"You never told me that,—"

"—but you were far away, where I couldn't see you or hear you in pain. The feeling, though—like when you were in Cloud City—is hard enough to bear, but if you were in front of me, no one would be safe, not even you."

Leia was unable to take her eyes off him. She takes a deep breath, but it does little to nothing to calm because she could still see his pained face. "There's so much you keep from me, you've grown so distant. I can feel the change in you, even now, far away. It worries me—"

"I know. But it's for your own good. And mine..." He swallows before revealing something big. "I've been distancing myself over the years to build a tolerance in case I lost you. And I can't burden you with worry about what I've been through."

Suddenly, over a year of Luke's odd behavior becomes clear. "How can you talk like that, I'm here to _help_ you, I _want_ to help you, I want to take on some of that burden so you don't have to bear it alone." Leia then forces herself to calm with all her anger and fear, trying to show him she can handle it, _I can't save him if I'm not calm! Breathe damn it!_ She takes her time to prove her mind is strong.

However, Luke doesn't notice in the slightest. He certainly couldn't look at her by this point, and it was getting hard to think without letting her words or the tone of her voice affect him. So he starts barely listening to what she says or does, just trying to get his words out so he can leave, "I've spoken to Yoda. He's confirmed what I must do. A true Jedi must be alone. The inevitable darkness of loss is too great a risk. I must learn to live alone to be a true Jedi, I know that now."

"What—Alone?"

"I can't bear the thought of you turning to the Dark Side if something were to happen to me."

"What makes you so sure I won't turn to the Dark Side if you go _now_? You could lose me either way if you leave." Her calmness broke into anger, so she shoves her face into her hands and through her hair, propping her head up with her elbows on the table. She keeps her eyes covered to concentrate.

"You're strong, you'll survive, if I leave you now. We both will. It will be harder if we wait. Riskier." It was getting harder for Luke to breathe with his chest so tight, so he closes his eyes, turns away, and tries to hurry up. "I'll protect Han, and Chewie, from the rooftop until you arrive. Then I'll leave. It's best if we don't see each other."

"No..."

"You must be dead to me..."

"But... then we'd be dead either way according to you." She removes her hands from her eyes, "Stay with us, stay with me, I'll take that risk rather than be alone—" then buries her eyes again. "If we would be dead to you either way, then why not stay with us while you can."

"Failure isn't just our death, it's everyone's. It's selfish to put everyone at risk for ourselves."

She could only speak on every breath now, "Luke, wait... Please... Think about this... Wait until I get there so we can talk about this."

 _Yoda wanted me to wait and be patient with a decision, but this is the decision he wanted, so why wait. It will be less difficult this way. And it'll give me more time to think about everything else: Terra, calling to the force, my father—Or does any of that matter now..._

The word "Luke..." flies out of Leia and falls with the remainder of her breath. She forces her hands to stay over her eyes, doing everything she can to keep her mind from bursting open. She whispers, "(I'll find you, wherever you are, I can feel you anywhere,)" repeating 'I'll find you' as if to console herself that there's still hope. She begins to relax.

Luke tries not to rush out, focusing only on moving calmly and clearing his mind completely. He keeps his eyes closed, letting only the Force and his subconscious walk him out, and disappears into the darkness of the hall.


	19. CHAPTER 19 -- To Fly or Fall

Chapter 19

 **T** **O** **F** **LY** **OR** **F** **ALL**

* * *

ONLY LUKE'S BODY moves down the dark hall. A shell. Not his mind. Not Luke.

His body moves to the elevator and stops, unsure of what to do without Luke's orders. So after a moment of nothing, Luke allows his mind some control.

He heads to the first floor and looks for supplies for the roof. In the kitchen, he puts food in a sac to fling over his shoulder, using his dead hand to scoop. Near where Terigo said the bedrooms were, he passes a room with Han's snoring coming from it. He looks inside adjacent rooms but doesn't find what he's looking for, so he clears his mind of all but one task and enters Han's room. When he finds enough bedding, he puts his dead hand to use by draping the bedding over it to carry, and walks out with Han only shuffling.

On his way to the elevator, he passes by a lit room and sees Terigo and Chewbacca. He stops to look at them, at her. She's bundled up in Chewbacca's arms, blanketed in his fur. Both are reclined, asleep, cozy and happy.

 _All the more reason to not care for her: If she spends any more time around me, I'll be getting my arms ripped off._ But he was beyond the ability to smirk at such desperate sarcasm.

 _Maybe I should just leave now, in case Terigo tries to change my mind when she reads my decision—if she does. She could protect Han, and Chewie. And she can survive without a goodbye or an explanation. She's strong._

And he heads to the roof.

In the distant glow of the building's nightlights, Luke finds a spot next to a railing where he could easily see enemies beyond and below. He makes his bed there despite the open wind and cold.

He sits on his bed cross-legged with his elbows on his knees and tries resting his face in his palms. He forgets about his dead, cold hand, so he tries pushing it over his face like his other one. But with its discomfort, he gives up and instead rests his face in his living hand, covering his eyes to try to calm his mind, breathing deeply.

But his mind won't truly calm. He was still worked up, and feeling Leia's sadness from far away was only making it worse. So he puts his mind to work by trying to focus on the Force, trying to call to it. _Whatever that means. How does one call to the Force? And he called it a 'she'...?_

Regardless, he knows it would help keep his mind off of things. So he spreads his awareness throughout the Force around him, in different ways, far and wide, dense and sparse. But none of it feels any different, so he tries having different feelings and thoughts to see if the Force would respond to them: hope, despair, needing help, wanting advice, and just repeating the name _Vader... Vader... Vader..._

 _...Father..._

A feeling that was not his own. Luke's breathing stops and his connection to the Force falters. The feeling of 'father' had swum through his mind, much like how Terra had communicated, with the flavor that 'Vader' meant 'father' in the ancient language of this planet.

Though his own essence was now stirred with wonder and concern, he tries repeating the name again, and repeating whatever he thought he did when the feeling happened. And when his essence finally calms...

... _Father of Balance_...

...as if Balance were a force or entity.

Thoughts and desperation race through his mind, _What does that mean? Why are you telling me this? What does it have to do with Vader or my father? What is he a father of? Why did he pick the name? Did he know he was a father? Did he abandon us to become a Sith Lord and regret it or...? Is there something about Leia and me that turned him?_

Luke wouldn't know for some time that it was Palpatine that picked the name Vader, and it would be longer still before Anakin would tell Luke why. So Luke's thoughts and guilt and longing cause him too much Darkness and instability. _I should stop now, this is dangerous, I should know better. And I can feel Leia's pain even more now. What it must have felt like when we were born—ripped apart after being warm and safe together, connected as one with the Force. How much we must have screamed._

He was no more closer to sleep than he was before, still too worked up. He needed something actually calming, something thoughtless. So he starts levitating his lightsaber, knowing he'll need to master this skill to fight without his hand.

Staring at his twirling unlit saber, his concentration wavers with various thoughts. Some were about the cold wind on his bare arms, some were about trying to ignore Leia's sadness, but most were about the depths of solitude. _Did Ben and Yoda stay hermits because they were in hiding or is that just how Jedi have to live...?_ It was only natural for him to let some thoughts through. He always disliked the tedious insanity of keeping his mind clear. The killing of his emotions. Of himself. _It's like I'm dead either way too... I might as well jump... Who I am will die, it's just a matter of degree; if I wait and turn, I'll take others with me; or if I jump now, maybe only I'll die..._

As he continues hovering his saber, the night passes. His saber had begun to waver as thoughts were gradually, stealthily, weighing him down and as fatigue drags him down more. In his haze, as his body wilts further and further with Darkness, his saber lowers further and further without his notice. The fall from the building's edge was beginning to look more and more inviting...

...And when the saber's spin taps the ground, it stops, catching him off-guard. In the startling motionless silence, in the sudden awareness of this failure, despair overtakes him...

...and he begins weeping...

...trying to choke back the tears on every breath...

.

Terigo's eyes open to a great coldness despite being buried in warmth. She takes a deep breath to try to ignore it in the Mid, but she can't let it go. The sorrow she feels from the roof—from a dear friend—was too strong to ignore. The growing pains she had pushed on him were different; no one could grow from enduring what he was feeling now. So whether she stayed down here or went up there, she knew she was at risk either way. The guilt would haunt her if she left him this alone.

So she kindly creeps out from under Chewbacca, feeling sorry if he wakes up alone. She letts a consoling hand linger on his arm, and walks quickly to the roof.

Through his choking breaths, Luke feels her standing still a ways behind him, dead as stone, so he holds his breath for a moment to stop crying and focuses on just breathing easy. He sits up straight and starts trying to breathe out his nose, finding it less difficult to clear his mind now that he had gotten most of it out.

Terigo stands there, a statue, until Luke's despair evens out into a less unstable state. Then she moves forward. She stops at his back and waits again to be sure he stays stable. Then she places her hand on his bare shoulder.

It takes a short moment, but he begins to feel her essence flow in, not warm, but cold. He tries to shut it out, but it gets pulled in as if magnetized by his own cold essence throughout his body. It gets pulled into his depths and—like electricity through a cord—that's when he feels the coldness in her was from her soul. That's when he realizes this is how cold essence works—sadness and fear. Remembering how he and his father could feel each other's longing, he realizes the cold essence connects with others when the feeling is the same to create a link that could help heal the pain. So Terigo's second cold rock, about the future, covered with hot sparks—he feels its entirety because it was so similar to his pain now. And then she removes her hand.

"You..." Luke barely utters. "You're trapped too. You hate this..." looking to her, "The Mid _and_ the Light."

She murmurs to confirm and says, "Both allow hiding. But it's become worse since I left home." She sits down on his left side almost shoulder to shoulder, cross-legged and elbows on her knees, hands joined in her lap, with determined concern.

"Yoda said your Light Side casts an illusion over you, that—"

"It can, that's one of its risks." She recites: "Darkness blinds with shadows. Sun blinds with Light." They both stare through their hands on their lap to think. "The Light's power is dependent on good feelings, so our strength comes from finding good in even the worst outcomes and fighting through it. So, now, I have to do this with most everything in my life. For some, this can get out of hand, causing them to lie to themselves and live in a false view of reality."

Luke cocks his head to carefully look at Terigo's eyes, trying to determine if she's one of these people.

She cocks her head and looks at him too as some heat seeps out from her Mid state, "But I'm not going to let it take me. I'm doing everything I can at every moment to fight it."

He could see that. And feel it. Fire pushed by ice.

"To survive the Sith, I maintained a large illusion of lies over myself that I was merely on a mission from stopping my home from being destroyed, as if it hadn't happened yet. But I found it necessary to develop the Mid when logic and reality caused the illusion to falter. Both are terrible states, so now I'm trying to eliminate them. I've pushed myself to acknowledge my home is... gone, consistently reaffirming past tense over present tense when speaking about it—"

 _Oh, the 'was' and 'is' thing she does..._

"—but it seems to be taking more time than I have." She takes a deep breath. "When I eased your concerns to speak about Audinican religions, I knew if I spoke the truth about my home, the risk of Darkness infecting me would have been great, so I had to cast yet another damn illusion over myself. Nearly at least. An exaggerated half-truth. I had to focus on the idea that others probably— _...maybe..._ —left too, that way I could speak of my religion and people as if it still exists. I had to push to ' _assume_ ' they were alive, when really it's only thin _hope_."

Luke feels sorry now, that he felt he had to push her to explain.

She continues, "The only reason I can even acknowledge it now is because it can feel good knowing someone else is going through the same thing. Or less bad." She eyes Luke. "That's what I'm trying to focus on at least."

Her gaze lingers on him for a bit longer and he returns it. They both feel a little warmer, breaking out of the Mid just a little, which soon becomes too much considering the mix of Terigo's emotions coming to the surface.

She takes another deep breath, eyes closed, head down, and repeats words in her mind. Luke sees and feels her fighting within herself, now trying to clear her mind of hatred, _Or is her hatred fighting the Mid?_

Terigo growls, "And this damn _chanting_ —!" She pulls her anger back, "This chanting... It's not the sort of thing my people do all the time. It's just a Jedi technique, one I _h_ —" she almost spat out the word 'hate,' "—one that's a good challenge, especially the Mid version. A test of sanity if anything. It's tedious, annoying, boring—Thinking the same things _over and over_ again, fighting your own _mind_ , having to chant out-loud to give it extra _umph_ , to ignore reality. As if it didn't make me look crazy, right?" giving a bitter smirk.

It takes a moment for Luke to realize he agrees, and that his 'Jedi Mood' must look strange too—inhuman—so he doesn't have enough time to smirk back.

"But that's what training is all about," she continues. "It's good to endure what you hate."

"Or, is that your religion talking again?" He wasn't sure. He didn't want to endure hatred, or did he, to train? And did he want her religion to be wrong, or right if it meant not having to die in the Mid himself?

"I don't know what to believe," she says. "Truth can be based entirely on point of view. My father would say this solitude—away from my home—is just a trial, that it will strengthen me. Us," glancing at Luke for a moment, then away. "But..."

Luke feels her doubt, feels her years alone. He says, "Until what end."

Terigo looks to his eyes again, wanting to agree with all her buried fire, but unsure if she has any right to question her religion. She says, "Some other families of The Light's Blaze would say it's perfectly fine—honorable—desirable—to suffer for 100 years if it meant you can live better for 200. They praise their relatives for sacrificing themselves for other's happiness, without ever truly feeling happy... That's..."

"...insanity," Luke finishes her thought, feeling it burning in her, feeling it burning in himself about the fate of the Mid, and she looks to him again, again wanting to agree fully.

"Some of those people died before then. They were never rewarded, never happy, they just suffered." Terigo argues with her own thoughts before speaking again. "How is that not selfish, of _others_? To demand that much? How can that be seen as a good thing? Some things are just terrible, some things can't be seen as good. That's just reality. So when there's no one..."

Luke feels the ice of her loneliness overwhelm her again, then her Mid & chants cut it off, with sparks fighting it all.

Terigo says, "If the Light fades, I can't stay in the Mid for everything. I have no power in it." Luke looks to her as she continues. "I only taught myself the Mid mindset so I could survive the Sith and destroy them."

"I..." Luke says with a determination to help her, "I'll teach you." _What am I doing, I can't take her with me, I have to be alo—_

"No," Terigo says, solid, looking to the horizon. "I mean, I would love to learn something new, especially with you," eyeing him for a moment, "but I don't want to ever have to rely on the Mid. I don't want to have to become an emotionless, droid-like slave." Luke becomes weighed down again. Terigo continues, "My father said the Mids call it 'duty' as an excuse, a lie to tell themselves it's worth it somehow, an _illusion_ they cast on themselves to believe they're happy. They think it's selfish to be happy in any other way. I want to be happy Luke. And I'll be able to be the strongest and fight the most for people if I am."

Luke wants to agree, but then there was Yoda... _a 900 year old Jedi Master, the greatest of them_. "Yoda... He said... you'll always be happy when protecting the galaxy, because the galaxy is always in need."

"I do feel _good_ when protecting the galaxy—the people of it—but not fully _happy_. How can one be happy if they're alone..."

These words hit Luke hard, truer than anything he's heard. Instinct again. It was screaming from the depths of his soul. Tatooine was _more_ than a desolate wasteland. It was desolation itself.

Terigo finishes her thoughts, "I want to be happy for a legitimate reason, not an illusion of the Light. Not an illusion of the Mid. Even if the Light does take me, then fine. I'll run into an impossible battle, take out as many Imperials as possible, die, and see my brother again. Either way, it's good." She tries to chuckle, but the bitter hatred of it all prevents her.

So she takes a deep breath, forcing the Mid on herself to reset her emotions. Luke starts to do the same to combat his bitterness and hopelessness, but now he was starting to hate the Mid too. _The solitude, the mindlessness, the contradiction..._

He continues to allow some thoughts to churn, allowing emotions to grow.

To grip him.

To burn.

Until finally...

"Then it's _all_ bad. _All_ sides of the Force," he says.

Terigo's eyes dart to Luke, seeing him nearly glaring into the horizon.

"They all restrict your emotions. The Light is an illusion. The Mid is death. The Dark Side is misery. It's not right. None of it is right. No matter what side you choose. They're _all_ unbalanced."

 _Balance_... Luke recalls.

Terigo continues to stare at him as he ponders with a growing, searing confidence.

He says, "The Force's influence over emotions... There's no freedom. There's no _real_ control. How can anyone grow without facing pain, how can anyone _want_ to grow without someone to fight for. They're required. I don't just want them, I need them. But I don't want to be _afraid_ of myself for feeling them."

Terigo's posture straightens with hard-met astonishment. He was on to something.

"A _true_ master should be able use _all_ emotions—harness _all_ sides of the Force—and _not fall_ to them. They should be able to control their emotions, be able to feel them, like a _real_ person. A human _being_. Not..." and every emotion surfaces to say:

"...whatever the _hell_ we are."

Luke's eyes burn into the horizon for a moment longer before noticing Terigo's eyes are rapt on his.

Terigo says, "In my years... among the Blaze, the Apricity, the Sith... No one had ever realized what you just did..."

Now Luke could feel the thick, growing warmth of her essence, pouring into him, connecting to his depths far stronger than ever before, accompanied by her gaze locked onto his eyes.

So when a noise echoes from the base's side-gate, when their heads both lurch to see stormtroopers and they jump to their feet, Luke immediately becomes resentful that the Imperials would dare invade, that they would dare interrupt, dare attack when his hand was broken, dare give him yet another thought to hate and fear.

Terigo stands ready for anything, with many types of faint smiles, but they both look to his dead hand, then look to each other for his decision about it.

He looks between his hand and the stormtroopers...

 _To hell with them._

 _To hell with us._

 _To hell with it all._

"Let's go."


	20. CHAPTER 20 -- Shields Down

Chapter 20

 **S** **HIELDS** **D** **OWN**

* * *

LUKE AND TERIGO SPRINT down the building's roof-access stairs and jump the rest of the way down as soon as they can. Terigo analyzes the enemies rushing in group formations through the metal forest while Luke heads to the entrance's comm station and presses buttons.

"Han, Chewie." Both jolt up to the sound of Luke's voice throughout the entire building. "Stormtroopers are coming, lockdown, arm the building, and _don't move_." Then Luke darts to Terigo's side at the dark corner of the entryway.

Terigo informs, "40 total in groups of 10. They haven't seen us yet. Most are going around back. 5 of each 10 have Perks." And 10 were coming their way, shielders in front.

Hiding in the dark, they both get their lightsabers out, unlit, Luke's in his left hand. Terigo looks at his.

"Are you sure? Can you swing hard enough with one hand?" Terigo says, eagerly hoping he can.

"Does it matter. It's worth a try." _If we die, so be it._

She smirks, then whispers as the 10 get closer, "Then be prepared to run all night so they can't surround us. That's how I killed this many yesterday."

He smirks back.

And as the clatter of armor draws near, they both ignite and jump out swinging.

Terigo slices through two shielded men and Luke one with his dead hand pushing on the hilt. They continue to run out to gain distance and surround them, deflecting shots. Terigo's spinning blur of swings deflects most of them, but Luke puts distance between the troops when he realizes he's also fighting himself. He was having slow reaction time with his untrained hand, having to dodge most the shots, and was further distracted by his reflexes trying to grab the saber with two hands at times.

They manage to deflect shots onto three stormtroopers that couldn't fit behind the remaining two shielders and deflect the rest of the shots away from the shields to prevent them deflecting back. Luke and Terigo run to get behind the last two shielders and two men, but one of each type had fixated on each of them while keeping back to back. And these four were keeping against the wall, so no shots were getting though.

Luke decides what to do next without concern. He runs wide around the men; deflecting, dodging, and jumping over shots as they turn around with him. He stops behind Terigo, takes a deep breath, and flings his lit lightsaber to the right of the men. The blade then swings left with his will of the Force, arcing around the men who now start shooting at it. The shots all miss such a small target and the blade makes three swings to take down the four of them.

But after their clatter of armor, there was no silence.

A pack of 10 more stormtroopers rounds the corner. Luke and Terigo couldn't hear the detailed commands sounding from within the stormtrooper helmets. They could only imagine it as the troops reposition flawlessly into an elongated wall, five pairs of one shielder in front of one shooter. Charging forward. Arching to try to surround them.

And from the wall of red shields comes a swarm of red blaster fire.

Terigo only barely blocks enough of them with her yellow blur and Luke behind her is nearly hit, because what they could not hear were measured commands to fire in unison. As the second wave of shots fly, both realize it's impossible to deflect them all at once, nor dodge them every time. So Luke flings his saber again. It only just misses the third wave of shots, but hits the last two stormtroopers. His saber was bound to get hit with this many shots. The troops suddenly try to arc around the Luke's saber as the fourth, fifth, and sixth waves of shots fly at it before he gets it back in hand. The seventh wave shoots at them again as their arc widens and closes in at full speed once more.

"Run!" they both say in unison, and Terigo deflects shots behind Luke's lead.

"How did you do this before?" Luke yells.

"Most didn't have shields."

"We need cover," Luke yells surveying the many objects of the base.

"This way then," motioning to stay along the main building's wall.

But rounding the corner reveals another group of 10 running towards them, already wide and arched and—

PZEWW—10 shots fire at Luke—and with Jedi instincts, he blocks with everything he has, his saber and the Force. With his broken hand in front of him from propelling the Force, the next wave of shots fire again the split second he realizes the Force pushed the shots aside. So he tries it again—saber and Force, blocking more shots. Now shots were coming from both front and back. Terigo pivots her lightsaber by the side-handle to swing behind her, turning it back when it's an inch from Luke's side, blocking the shots behind them.

"In there in there!" Terigo yells, motioning to a service alley.

But as another wave of shots fire from both sides, Luke's slow saber and Force Push weren't enough—Jedi reflexes again bring his hand to block a shot as a last resort.

"Ahhrr!" he yells, instantly pushing through the pain to deflect more shots. He doesn't stop running as Terigo blocks and helps pull him along.

Running into the service alley, Terigo deflects the last few shots behind her as the stormtroopers stop. The troops pull in their formations and begin organizing their procedure for blind corners like in the alley. Terigo pushes Luke behind one of these corners, breathes deep and even, and starts trying to sense the enemy's next move.

With all his anger, Luke tries to suppress the pain enough to do the same but it was no use. This was no flesh wound like their training. He tries to hold his lightsaber ready, but with the trembling pain and untrained hand, again, it would be no use. _USELESS, HELPLESS._ Darkness was building hot as he glares at his destroyed hand, a revolting thing of wires and remnants of skinless fingers— _THIS_ _THING_ —all his rage and pain and failure fuming into this reminder of his torment.

 _THIS EVIL THING!_

And Terigo whips around to him screaming, as he _rrriiips_ the thing out of his arm.

Gasping, he pulls the last of the wires out and collapses to his knees just as Terigo catches him and runs with him down the alley away from the sound of armor approaching.

Flinging him into a nook, she conceals them by slamming his back against the wall—

Her hand on his shoulder, hand on ripped arm—

 _I'm not alone—_

Soothing dissolving pain—

Euphoric healing warmth—

Their eyes closed and focusing—

Cheek against his—

Her muffled laugh—

 _I'm not alone—_

CRASH—a stormtrooper shielder crashes into a shooter behind him with Luke's rage of the Force. Terigo is half-pushed with them but she uses that momentum to whip around and ready her lightsaber in one smooth spin. She darts forward, slices a shielder coming from the alley, and blocks shots from the shooter behind him and the two on the ground. Meanwhile, with Luke's forearm healed shut, the pain gone, he had kept his eyes closed to focus on the Force—on the stormtroopers. His power yanks the red shield from the rising stormtrooper, pulling him into Terigo's blade as she thrusts it through him. Her blade pierces the one behind him while the red shield _slams_ another alley trooper. Terigo _whips_ around to fling her lightsaber in front of the shield, cutting the trooper down before.

She gets behind the shield—still hovering in place—as it blocks shots from the alley. She looks to Luke.

His eyes were still closed, maintaining a focus reborn. There was now no more sacrifice, no more Yoda, no more Light, no more Darkness, no guilt, no evil threatening to take him from within, no fear of loss or death. Live or die, it was all the same. So his breathing relaxes, and he stands straight and serene. Terigo could feel the Force strengthening in him, connecting to all things...

So she isn't surprised when she holds out her hand to continue the healing and he just says:

"Let's go."

The shield moves forward down the alley and she turns to follow it with more than her usual thrill for battle, smirking with an internal blaze.

As Luke follows her blindly, his awareness of his surroundings stays pure. He was aided by walking calm and collected, aided by his complete & total trust in her, and aided by her ever-strong Light.

Reaching the end of the alley, the red wall of huddled stormtroopers move back in a tight arc. One on each side are ordered to shoot at the gap on each side between the shield and alley. But it does no good. The shield stops at the opening—

—and another flies over to accompany it.

The lieutenant orders the shielders to keep a firm grip or die by his hand.

Terigo takes only a small bit of attention away from the troops to begin staying more connected to Luke's mind. She does so to prevent him from having to become distracted by speaking, and she finds she has no need to communicate this when she reads Luke understands.

He tosses the second shield over their heads to land lifelessly behind him...

...and after a long moment of ready stormtroopers...

...one of them rises in the air by his neck—

—and drops as his shield flies towards the alleyway, over Luke's head to fall.

Another trooper starts choking, feet on the ground, and his shield is sent flying. This shield doesn't quite make it to the alley before yet another stormtrooper starts choking and loses his shield—Then the lieutenant rises in the air—They all start shooting—The lieutenant's shield flies towards the alley as he falls, and all the troops are ordered to back up one-hundred feet.

With breathing room, Luke pulls one of the shields from the ground and floats it next to his shield. He tries for a third, but it drags and the hold on one of his falters. So Terigo grabs the faltering one and Luke pulls the third next to it. Hovering two was his max.

A moment goes by as they trade thoughts. Then she smirks...

And they _RUN_.

As Luke keeps his two shields protecting their left side, they head along the right wall, towards the first stormtrooper of the arc. Blasters were no use against Terigo's front shield, and the troops were slow to move away, thinking they were trying to get out of the arc. So when Terigo gets in range, she spins her lightsaber in front of her shield to take out the end stormtrooper.

Again and again she does the same to the next as she and Luke continue to adjust their position for the stormtroopers trying to surround them. And as she leaps over bodies, they start falling like grass.

As one trooper gets around Luke's back, Luke grabs a floating shield to use that attention to Force Push him and take his shield. Then he hovers it to add a fourth shield to their protection.

After some time, with some reverse maneuvering, Luke and Terigo run towards the last two shieldless shooters. Luke drops all shields and switches to hover only the one he was holding in front of him, and as Terigo slices _around_ the shield she holds, Luke elbows the hilt to pierce _through_ his. And both shooters clatter to the ground.

After only one breath of panting, Terigo laughs—elated with their feat—and Luke pulls an intact shield to his hand.

Between breaths, Terigo says, "You sense, the right half, of the base, I'll sense the left."

"Yeah," Luke pants out.

Their panting continues, but after only one more, their attentions are wrenched to the next side of the main building with more than the usual concern. They look to each other and jog towards it.

Turning the corner, they see a stormtrooper shoot himself and collapse among nine already down. Then a shaded figure backlit by nightlights walks casually towards them.

"Terra."


	21. CHAPTER 21 -- The Light's Invasion

Chapter 21

 **T** **HE** **L** **IGHT'S** **I** **NVASION**

* * *

WORDS ENTER THEIR MINDS nearly instantly as concerns and fatigue are soothed by Terra's essence. _The base is clear_ , Terra says, _but_ their _base isn't_ , with the visual flavor of a ship.

"A ship? Where?" Luke says, but Terra was already showing them mental images.

A mile away from the base, hidden among hills, rests a ship that could hold a thousand stormtroopers.

 _But you don't feel him? It's only half the distance I was to you earlier._

"What...?" Luke says, but they already felt the flavor of a Sith Lord in Terra's words.

"I can't," Terigo informs.

Luke tries harder... "Maybe... I don't think I'm as Light as I was when I found you."

 _Well, now's our chance to kill him._

Luke says, "Our?—Are you crazy? We can't take on that many men. I know now the Light casts an illusion, so how do we know—"

 _Good questions, but I'm the only one that can't answer that. Judging oneself is arrogant. A Dark quality._

"Luke," Terigo says a little unsure of herself, "if he says we can, we can. We can trust him."

"(Can we,)" Luke mumbles to Terigo only. He starts to doubt her, and becomes a bit angry she would blindly trust Terra.

Terigo looks to Terra, embarrassed, knowing he read far more than what he didn't hear. She looks to Luke, doubtful of him too. She finds herself worried that she'll end up facing a choice on whether to appease Terra or Luke. A choice between being wrong or alone...

 _I would never make you choose such a thing, child._

Terigo, hopeful yet fairly sure, says to Luke, "...He's survived this long... What are the chances of _sudden_ insanity?"

Luke sighs, trying to be annoyed by Terra's essence preventing him from _being_ annoyed. At least he couldn't see his smile very well in the night's ambient glow. He looks to Terra and speaks with no real edge, "You're 700. You must be 700 times more capable than us, so why would our efforts even matter."

 _Well, for one, 700 divided by your age is 28 times more powerful, not 700. And two, if you had thought before you spoke,_ those words feeling pleasantly supportive, _you could have easily seen it as: I would take several hundred of his men and you take what you can. But that's actually not what I mean: I've tried to kill him before. But my skills don't cut it, almost literally,_ with a chuckle and the flavor of a lightsaber.

"Then how—"

 _I have no use for lightsaber skills. The mind is far more powerful than the saber. But he evades my efforts when he senses me near, or overwhelms me. It's challenging to even get close enough to shoot him. But he won't run from_ you _. He's after you, in a way,_ with a flavor of something Luke couldn''t determine. Red...

 _Great,_ Luke thinks. "What does that mean?"

 _I'm sure he'll tell you, and it's of no consequence to explain now. We should move. I have a lot to tell you about your father._

Luke and Terigo blink.

Luke says, "I thought—"

 _It's in exchange for trusting me. Trust for trust. No you're long from ready for the information, but I do sense a change in you, in you both, so I don't think it will kill you anymore. And killing a Sith Lord now serves the greater good in the long run, even if your growth is hindered by my words for some time, even if_ I'm _hindered._

Luke doesn't know what to think, but now troubling thoughts about his father build again.

 _Ah, I see. Well, let's chat about that while we invade his favorite toy. Shall we?_

Terigo says to Luke, "If you're not going..." she weighs a lot in her mind, a lot, and cheers up, "...I should at least go to weaken their forces. Destroy what I can and get out. Before they attack us again with full-strength."

Luke looks to her, trying to fight Terra's soothing so he could think with his own concerns. But that only meant letting Darkness in to push him away, which meant irrational thoughts. It was no use either way. He sighs through his nose, "Fine. We can at least do that. You and I."

.

Their speeders fly cautiously through hills, with Terra leading the two children: Luke and Terigo. They continually scan for enemies with the Force, until Terra tells them to slow down and park, using hand gestures just in case their young minds were too distracted by driving speeders.

With his interest beyond the next hill, Terra addresses the concerns he feels in the two kids, _No, you know how Dark users are,_ 'you' meaning Terigo. Terra was referring to her experience with the Sith, and Luke. Terra continues, _and this little one's just a baby like you two. So he can't sense us until we're well within his ship._

Terra closes his eyes to focus. He's glad to know the kids stay deathly quiet to allow the adult to do serious business, and he's further glad to see them start sensing too. After a moment, they all sense a captain coming closer, but Terra sends worry-free feelings to the kids to keep their lightsabers sheathed.

The captain comes into view and continues walking towards him, seemingly not noticing any of them. With Terra's pacifying essence and smile, the kids stand only half as alarmed as they would've been, but more alarmed than usual considering how disturbing it is to see an Imperial captain _smile_. He is _happy_ to see Terra.

Terra smiles wider, preparing his Light. Then he removes his essence from the kids and gently places his hand on the captain's forehead to make a large request. After a moment, the captain simply leaves and Terra returns his essence to the kids, _The Force's connection is strongest through human touch, as if she wants us to be connected, as if our bodies all wish to become one being,_ with flavors of that ancient hologram presentation. _This will give my requests enough time before they wear off._

 _Speaking of her, our mother, this planet, the Force..._

"You believe the ancient hologram?" Luke asks.

 _I have a feeling... She's told me a few things since I got here, and long before. But she told you a little something too._

Terigo looks to Luke.

 _So 'Vader' means 'father' in this planet's ancient language. Interesting how he was one. Interesting how they called this planet Mother... Sith Lords pick their name, often an old word. His sounded ancient to me, but it's not in anyone's ancient texts. I imagine there wasn't much room for history books when they evacuated here. So how did he learn it?_

The kids feel speechless, as he knew they would.

 _According to an old, vague prophecy that the Jedi Council believed, Anakin was the Chosen One, the one to bring balance to the Force. Whether he was or not, his incredible power—I'm sure—would have allowed him to connect to the Force in ways we cannot. So his name intrigued me. Maybe he saw the ancient past? Maybe he was able to connect to our Mother? Maybe she told him more about the prophecy?_ Or rather Palpatine did, as he was the one who chose Vader's name. But only Anakin would know how the Emperor had more interest in Luke than Vader, looking to replace him.

Terra senses Luke's thoughts about the prophecy.

 _So you think her words 'Father of Balance' could be about the prophecy? I wouldn't think so. The only time I ever heard the word_ 'balance' _used about the Force was in the prophecy. The Jedi Council never talked about_ 'balancing' _the sides; neither the Mids nor the Light ever wanted an_ equal _number of Dark users. They wanted none at all. So the only way to interpret the prophecy's use of 'balance' is that it means 'peace'._

He senses Luke's feelings about the unbalanced sides of the Force—being trapped. He also senses how those feelings are pushing Luke to speak before thinking, causing him to believe that what he heard relates to something important like the prophecy. Luke says, "But all sides are unbalanced. What if the prophecy meant—"

 _That's a very dangerous idea, toying with using childish emotions. But I_ can _understand wanting to find the good side of terrible things. I respect that._

The sound of a vehicle ends all thought on the subject. A truck pulls up with the captain driving it and Terra touches his forehead for a bit again. Terra has the three of them climb into the concealed back-end while the captain drives. The kids obediently following Terra's lead by keeping their essence focused on the outside as they ride for a bit. After stopping, the three wait, eyes closed, serene, until the captain opens the door.

Terra follows this wrinkled grey-haired child. The other two children follow Terra but stop when they see a stormtrooper facing them. Because the troops were of no further concern to him, the kids continue to follow. He takes note of how he needs to help them work on respectfully trusting their elders and reading his intentions, otherwise they wouldn't have stopped at all. He becomes further driven to help when he senses the kids seeing a few more stormtroopers facing them but don't realize what's going on until they see the people without helmets. That he had asked them all to close their eyes.

 _Yes, some here are informed that if they notice suspicious behavior, to report it as possible Jedi mind tricks. Well, only closing one's eyes is hardly noticeable, is it._

He has the captain lead them to a storage closet and hold out his blaster to him. "Thank you child," Terra says aloud. The captain was now nothing compared to the millions suffering right now. So in one smooth, carefree movement, as if the captain no longer stood there, he takes the blaster and moves to the door, with a shot hitting the captain dead before the blaster even left his hand.

He feels the near-horrified concern on Luke's face and comforts them by saying, _He's seen too much. I can't erase memories, I can only prevent them by turning someone's gaze away._ And he begins to focus beyond the door, eyes closed.

Terigo feels Luke about to interrupt with a protest about self-defense. So, a little disappointed in him, she reluctantly adds, "Luke, what did you expect. He can't mind-control them all, forever."

They both look at each other from the corner of their eye, concerned with the other one's morals and concerned with their own, both thinking: _To be wrong or alone..._

Terra opens the doors and they continue. The kids watch him and the halls, cautiously, and he feels glad that Luke notices his grace of invincibility, how it's similar to Terigo's, but more cloudlike. He occasionally stops them at corners and doors so he can sense beyond. Once they pass them, the kids notice stormtroopers and uniformed men standing as they were but with eyes closed.

After passing many halls, the kids notice he's avoiding locations dense with people and had been reading minds on how to get around. Glad they're learning, he praises, _That's right, I can only ask about ten at a time before the first one's requests wears off. When they're not too far away from me._

In a tiny elevator, he senses past the doors as it stops. The doors open and they enter a long open-air passage. It's so narrow that they nearly brush shoulders with several repairmen as they pass by. Then he calls out, friendly, "Malic wait!" happy he gets to please someone with recognizing them as a person rather than a number.

The kids see an alarmed mechanic up ahead ready to run away, seeming fully in control. Terra waves him over, summoning feelings of how happy he is to see him, "Malic!" As expected, five people around them jerk to the noise—startling the kids. But their eyes were still closed, so he was already reaffirming his requests of them one by one. It only takes three seconds for the five people, and the kids relax.

As they get closer, the kids notice the man looks baffled that anyone would know his non-serial name. Terra informs the kids, _I didn't have a strong enough connection at this distance to ask him to close his eyes, so I had to add a distraction._

As they got closer, the man's alarm had grown into delight. Terra asks him to lead the way, then has him open a closet and step inside. Things were going smoothly, so Terra hums as he shoots him in the back and closes the door as if putting away a tool. Without even a falter in his cloudlike steps.

Terigo feels Luke's vile concern, particularly directed at her lack of it. So she says, "I've never liked having to kill people, remember. I've only considered it rightful execution. I've only focused on the greater good it does for others. We can save them later. Not a few individuals, but the larger whole."

They begin approaching two stormtroopers guarding a door. Terra has one open the door for them and places his hand on this one's helmet. He learns about him as he himself had continued to walk inside without stopping.

Prison cells with about 100 people line the hall. Having seen terrible things for centuries, he continues to walk past them with no interest and waves the kids along. He senses Luke slowing to gawk while Terigo feels somewhere in between Luke and himself, due to her years with the Sith.

Fiddling with a switchboard, he informs, _The arena is just over here. Cicatrice does a lot of personal training. He especially loves training his troops into smart and efficient men. These prisoners are targets and will be dead in a day. He plans on collecting more from the civilians and Rebels here. You two should go into the arena to scan for guards for us while I work on this._

The kids obey. Luke's Dark emotions of being disturbed and concerned were breaking past Terra's warmth and his own serene control. But he begins sensing with Terigo. Terra knew it was better they were busy with this distraction so they wouldn't misunderstand him and interfere. So when they were furthest away, he opens the cell doors and entrance.

When the guards come in, Terra shoots them and says, "Go! You're free. Take their blasters, and this one," tossing his to the most capable of them, "before the Sith Lord finds you." And they begin rushing out in a desperate mob.

But like skilled children, Luke and Terigo sense the lack of people around Terra. Terigo thinks they may be under attack but she feels Luke is terrified that Terra might be killing them. So they rush over.

Terra immediately turns to the two kids. _There are too many stormtroopers where we're going. We need to thin them out with a distraction._

"Wait!" Luke calls to the last of the prisoners, and to Terra: "But they'll die."

The last 12 prisoners stop to this, more afraid than they were before.

Terigo feels Luke's painful gaze on her. She feels him hope she didn't think this was right, that he is expecting her to stop Terra or at least say something. But she could only stand there glancing between the two of them. She hopes Luke feels at least one of the dozens of emotions whirling inside her right now, hoping Terra wouldn't determine she was weak for being so conflicted.

Terra says, _Well you won't be able to defend yourself from the 200 troops coming to stop them,_ and turns to find the exit across the area.

Unfortunately the kids are reluctant to follow, but not so much the prisoners. They didn't hear Terra's thoughts to Luke about using them. So one sees his radiant smile and could only help but smile back, pleased to be looked at in such a way. Terra wraps a comforting arm around this one and says, "So your name is Jurch. Did you know I can read minds?" The glee he feels from these kids when he learns about them had always made him feel good too.

Upon exiting, they're met with more stormtroopers than he could handle. As the kids ignite their lightsabers to prepare, he notes they still have yet to learn to use the Force instead of their toys. But they deflect enough shots to buy him enough time to ask the other stormtroopers shoot each other. However, it wasn't enough time to save Jurch, having held that one in front of him as a shield.

In the silence and sizzling, the two kids and the prisoners all step away from him and stand in shock. So he says aloud, "Had you discreetly used the Force instead of your obvious Jedi weapons, he could have been saved."

Even Terigo is rude enough to open her mouth and contest—

"If I didn't," Terra says, "we would've both died, then everyone here would have died without me. That's only the fault of your impulsive attack, not mine." It was an instructional tone rather than blaming.

The prisoners now turn their shock onto Luke, blaming him for the death, not knowing who to trust.

Terigo watches Luke tells the prisoners he'll save them then turn to argue with Terra, but she could only stand in shock. Terra replies both to Luke and to what pieces of Terigo's thoughts he felt, _You'll understand when you're older. When you look at the bigger picture, you'll see you'll save far less if you plan on trying to save every last person._

Terigo watches Luke walk around, feeling he's trying to figure out what to do with Terra or where to go without him but with 11 prisoners. Meanwhile, she was rethinking everything, _Would I ever do such a thing? Certainly not now, but at his age? Relieving that child of his pain was different, or was it? It was also to save Leia and save the millions she will save by staying alive, and this is to save easily thousands by killing a Sith Lord. But did this person need to die, and he trusted him. Can Terra's act truly be from a sane point of view, to kill so easily for the greater good? Even if he isn't a delusional monster, he seems like it to everyone around. Even to his peers in the council. So he must be alone—And if he's alone and still thinks he's happy... then he's... He_ is _insane._

Terra tries to help them see their error, _If you had been reading me like you should be, you wouldn't have this wrong impression of my motives. As you realize now, that's the other reason it wouldn't benefit you to come with me. I plan on cleansing this galaxy much more thoroughly than others are capable of, without being burdened by the sorrow it would bring you. Darkness doesn't just affect Force-sensitives, the entire galaxy is plagued with it. Especially on desert planets. They can't be helped. There's not enough food or water to feed them, so they can only ever be in pain. You would know, Luke,_ with flavor of others' desperation on Tatooine, just like Luke's.

"What do you mean—"

 _It would be cruel to allow someone to continue to suffer when all they have is suffering to look forward to. Like the Jedi Council, the Rebels intend to preserve life in the galaxy as if it may have hope to live more than a meagerly content existence. These people pose no benefit to others if they could just as easily fall into Darkness as they could ascend into the Light. So I help them into peace when I can while I'm creating a new world. One that is pure, with pure Jedi._

His growing smile disturbs the kids now, no matter how genuine and sane it looks. The prisoners look at all of them like they're crazy, only seeing the kids yelling at a silent man.

 _You see, I know how to create people like your father now. Someone with pure, powerful blood, born from the Force. She is helping me to do this,_ with the flavor of this planet—the Force.

 _I don't just owe it to her by saving her children, I also owe it to everyone who died on Audinic... I'm the reason the Sith destroyed our home. It was one reason why I stayed away as much as I did. They didn't care about our home, only_ I _was a threat. I didn't think they could sense me without the Light, but they tracked me without the Force. I still have some to learn about their inanimate magics—technology._

 _So it's only right that I devote myself to re-creating Audinic. If I don't, the Darkness of such tremendous guilt will surely take me. And it_ would _help to have less of a plague that could infect my people,_ with the flavor of that plague being most people in the galaxy.

Terigo speaks up with a fire hidden by a respectful voice, "How is this not insane? How is even telling us not insane? Luke wants to kill you right now, I know you feel that, and I know you feel it in me too." To her relief, she sees Luke spin to stare at her and feels his burning essence lighten with incredible relief, for just a moment.

 _I realize now that even if he were to stay short-sighted, any desire to stop me would require him to continually grow more powerful. With his powerful hereditary potential, the sooner he grows up, the better it is for everyone._

Terigo could feel how Luke now hated Terra's warmth invading him. She feels him trying to push it out, and could see his anger too. She begins feeling the same, but Terra's warmth feels too similar to her own essence to push any out.

Luke growls: "Tell me how to get to the Sith Lord, I'm not following you—"

 _That's fine. You should be fine if we split up now. Cicatrice can be reached down that way,_ then he looks to Terigo.

She sees Luke look to her too, both waiting for a decision. So she tells Terra, "You're insane to me. I'm sorry if I'm still too young see that I'm somehow wrong, but this is _wrong_ to me at my age now. This—"

 _I was your age once too. Of course I understand, and it's perfectly alright child. You two should get going._ And he turns to start walking away as if this were all perfunctory. As he scans in his direction, he doesn't turn to add: _There's two ways to destroy ships like this. Both will give you plenty of time. Find me if you need help escaping._ He stops at a corner. _Cicatrice has no intention of killing you Luke. It will be a good test in many ways. I'm glad. The more the better._

Then he walks sideways to wave goodbye, turning the corner, leaving the kids in shock to stand among confused prisoners.


	22. CHAPTER 22 -- Scars

Chapter 22

 **S** **CARS**

* * *

A NEW FEELING began flooding Luke and Terigo now that Terra's essence was gone.

"I can feel him too," Terigo says, both looking opposite of Terra's direction.

"Then that means he's close," Luke says with a quick glance in the hopes she wasn't insulted.

Luke starts running to doors in the hall, "Find an—"

"—an empty room, got it," Terigo says, running to doors on the hall's other side.

They sense through a few doors until Luke says, "Found one!" and opens it. But like with the annex's General, he couldn't sense far when stressed. Far into the room, two stormtroopers spin around and start shooting only to get their blaster fire deflected by Luke's lightsaber. They fall to the floor. "Hide in here! Hurry!" he waves to the prisoners, and they rush in.

The first two in run to the stormtroopers to pick up their blasters, but Luke says, "No don't. It'll give them more of a reason to shoot you."

The prisoners reluctantly put the blasters down, and instead, one starts kicking a stormtrooper while the other starts removing the other's armor to wear.

With all the prisoners in, Luke says, "We'll be back to get you out of here, just don't move," and closes the door.

"He's getting closer," Terigo informs, ready to pursue.

"Then let's find him first."

Following the Sith Lord's heated essence, they avoid stormtroopers, but some seem like they're avoiding them. It was too hard to tell which way their eyes were looking in those helmets. So when they enter a narrow hall, lightsabers ready, with a row of stormtroopers standing still on each side facing each other...

"Terra?" Luke asks.

"No... More like a trap. Darth Cicatrice is in the next room past them."

They approach slowly and take a deep breath to ready their senses for a split-second change.

When in the middle of the stormtroopers, Terigo discreetly lets her arm touch his, and speaks through the connection. _Luke, if you duck, I can take the heads off half of them in an instant._

He tries to make his thoughts heard, _No, they might surrender once he's dead._

 _True... but..._ and she removes her arm, not wanting to get in an argument about preferring to be safe than sorry with execution.

Past the troops, they reach the doorway. The stormtroopers reposition with lightning speed in an arc around them, making it impossible to do anything but enter.

Terigo chuckles: "Told you."

They enter a command room of sorts: an wide open space with officers manning controls on the left, shouting battle updates to a fiery-clad hooded figure on the right. The hooded figure jumps down from one of many training obstacles.

"Dawken, take command until I say otherwise," Cicatrice calls.

Past the controlled harshness of his voice, it was nearly young. Barely an adult.

" _Hey._ Knock it off," he says with bitter whimsy and a head-turn to Terigo. She had tried to read his mind, but he pushed her essence out.

As Luke and Terigo slowly approach, Terigo touches Luke's arm again, _I'll try reading him when he's distracted. Keep him surrounded at all times. Attack at the same time, on my lead, in ten seconds._

Cicatrice lets her get behind him with his attention only on Luke. Luke and Terigo now both notice the intricate details of his cloak. Black cloth drapes over every inch of his body, with only his mouth and chin showing. His cloak is covered so densely with hot-orange designs that it looks instead like black designs on an orange cloak. Moving around him allows the light to reveal the yellow and red iridescence of the designs, as if it were made of fire that could both warm and burn...

Luke and Terigo stand in position, lightsabers ready, but Cicatrice's youthful voice speaks again, "Put those away for now. I'll be talking for a while and I don't want your arms tired—"

Zwoom—Zwoom—Terigo swings and Luke follows an instant after, but Cicatrice flips backwards to land on a ten-foot-high obstacle just behind Terigo.

Cicatrice, partially calm, says, " _You_ of all brats should know it's rude to interrupt those older and wiser," motioning to Terigo.

Luke mumbles: "(Older?)"

Terigo scoffs, playfully teasing, "For one, you're about 20, and two, I sense your ego is trying to talk, that you wish to show off skills. Only _children_ crave such acknowledgement and praise."

Luke adds, grumbling at himself, "Either way, you're still a kid. When _I_ was your age—"

"Physical age means nothing," Cicatrice says with a patronizing tone. "Only your experiences age you."

Luke wonders what sort of experiences Cicatrice could've had to make him a Sith Lord at such a young age. Luke considers howhe himself was only barely eligible to join the Imperial Academy or hover a rock at that age. Meanwhile, Terigo thinks about his statement, finding it so unlike Darth Sacrifus' way of thinking and so unlike what she understood about the Sith religion. So she tries reading him again.

But as she does, she grows alarmed, astonished, and Luke understands why when Cicatrice starts saying his thoughts out loud, almost singing them, "...(What if I chant?) What if I chant. What if I _chant_. What if I chant! _What_ , if, I, _chant_."

As Luke sees Terigo's shock, Cicatrice giggles.

He says, dismissive, "All Audinicans are children," motioning to Terigo again while he still only ever faces Luke. "They're spoiled, with peaceful lives and training fueled only by tradition. They feel no true growing pains. And I haven't been Audinican for 5 years..."

To Terigo, the orange of his cloak now looks like a fusion of Sith-red and Blaze-yellow.

Cicatrice says, "I was raised under the Blaze, so I don't have the childish mindset of the Sith, and I no longer have the blindness of the Light fueling my ascension."

Terigo cuts his platform diagonally and tries reading him as he falls with it. But he jumps sideways and Force Pushes it towards her before landing, making her step to the side. Luke repositions to be opposite of her again while Cicatrice keeps his attention glued to Luke like a pivoting statue.

Cicatrice says, kindly sneering, "I only wish to talk. I'm not armed." And he holds out his cloaked hands. "Do you sense any weapons on me? Son of Vader."

Luke holds still to sense him thoroughly. "No..."

Terigo suddenly dodges something that glances her face—a thing that served as a sort of punching bag—

"Child, that's rude. I said stop," Cicatrice says. She had tried to read him again.

Luke continues his previous reply, "...but it looks like you could have weapons hiding anywhere. We have no reason to allow you to talk and do more harm. This is your execution."

Terigo looks at him and smiles, happy he understands this situation clearly demands no mercy.

Luke faintly smiles back and nods to proceed to attack, and as they both prepare to charge—

"But don't you want to see what _she_ could _become_?" Cicatrice says with a lively energy, burning with excitement. He actually jerks his head towards her and a sudden gust blows his cloak and her hair, "Knock it off! Stop lying to yourself, you don't actually want to connect with me!" Then he turns back to Luke, "Who's sicker Luke, someone who _honestly_ hates you? Or someone that can _lie to themselves_ that they love you just so they can _kill_ you... Has she tried to kill you yet, to become a Jedi?"

Luke realizes now that there was this similarity between Cicatrice and Terigo. It was especially similar to when she first chastised him about executing a stormtrooper. It was something in his body language, his types of smiles and wry, the sociable nature of it, the open looseness of it. It was so unlike the firm predatory manner that Vader and the Emperor had, so unlike their embodiment of death and wrath.

Sensing Luke's unease, Terigo says, "Luke," confident with a hint of concern, "I would never kill you without your permission. I swear to you. And I would never lie to you more than I absolutely had to, to protect us or the greater good."

Cicatrice barks without turning, "You don't even know what a lie _IS_ , DELU—"

"I DO. I've made sure I never truly forget," she says with no anger, yet there was a hint of hatred behind her strong voice.

"Forget?" turning his head to her then back to Luke. "Sounds like a dark secret, I like it," smiling. "I have some too..."

His cloak unties with the Force and half-drops to be held at his waist by his crossed arms. It reveals his bare back, chest, and face.

Scars. Decorative, intricate scars matching his cloak's designs cover every inch of his skin. Some even appear to cover many old battle scars. His head remains lowered for a moment, and when he raises it, his eyes are closed. His grin widens, imagining what their faces must look like—no—feeling their horror.

He says, "The pain of loss is inevitable— _Pain_ is inevitable. The only way to defeat it is to allow it, induce it, become immune to it. If you control the pain, you will never be hurt by it controlling you. And _oh_ how it broadens the _mind_. You learn such _amazing_ things about yourself—what you can't control when you're in pain—your shaking, your breathing, concentration, or even having thoughts. There's so much to learn about ourselves, and knowledge is power. Power is freedom. Pain will set you free."

Luke and Terigo ready their lightsabers from their slumped positions and step forward to—

" _Still_ with those _training toys?_ " Cicatrice says, playfully incredulous. "You're hiding behind them like cowards," and two training objects jolt violently, harmlessly far away, yet startling Luke and Terigo enough to stop their advance. Cicatrice continues, "Have you no power in the Force, Luke. Can you not feel everything around you at your command." Another object jolts, and Luke and Terigo reconsider fighting in this room, where Cicatrice chose. "What, looking around for traps? Pathetic. Needing your eyes..."

They both look back tohis closed eyes.

"Do I even _have_ eyes? Or—"

"You do," Terigo says, bored with his ego—

"HA! CHILD! So WISE of you to _interrupt_ ," with callous sarcasm. "Don't you love it how the more you _deny_ me what I want, the more powerful it makes the Darkness inside me. _Keep interrupting dear_. I've always considered lightning _cheating_ , but if you push me to it..."

Luke says, "What do you want?"

"How disappointing you don't know yet. _She's_ not allowed in my mind, but you are. Have you not tried _once_?" He answers for himself, "No... I would've felt it. But certainly you must be better at it than _her_ considering your heredity."

"Is _that_ why you're so interested me?" Luke asks, calm.

"Find out. Read my mind. But to read deep enough, you'll have to want more than to just _learn_ about me. You'll have to want to _bond_ with me, to want to learn how we're _similar_."

Neither Luke or Terigo like sound of this. Neither one wants any information that might cause guilt to make them hesitate for even a second in executing him. _But what if we could learn more than he expects. What if we could get the upper hand this way._ So Luke eyes Terigo, having felt her reading him, and she eyes an 'ok, give it all you got.'

Luke sighs and settles his emotions. He thinks about how to do this _right—strong_ —the _first_ time, because this may be his only chance...

 _...How did I read deep into Terigo? Our similar pains, our sorrows, it was practically automatic... So what drives him like us? He seems to train more than me, constantly, like Terigo, probably_ more _than her. What drives me to train? What drove me to allow Terigo to hit me? My failure, my own scars, anger—towards myself—fear of losing my friends too, but especially hating myself, how young and stupid I was—and am—What I still might not know, what I know I don_ _'t know, what I know I can't do or prevent... These are the deepest parts of me... So, maybe, if they're the deepest part of him too, I can reach that far... Into someone like me, someone like Terigo..._

And though Luke's essence had started to grow Dark with thoughts about his own motivations, it begins to grow Light as he focuses on learning about someone like him. His connection does dig deep, being magnetically pulled in by similar feelings of failure and suffering and loss.

And after a very long moment, Cicatrice smiles with resentful triumph. Then Luke opens his eyes to remove his essence.

Luke clears his own induced thoughts of bonding by resetting himself in the Mid. He informs blandly, "Your mentor focused on the Blaze's pain-training from an early age. He also set you up to try the resurrection test more than others, setting you up to fail so that you could build a resistance against loss. It all worked, from a _certain point of view_ ," with a very real bitterness towards those four words, "and you killed him to move on to more challenging things. When you came here, you realized your mentor didn't know much about the Dark Side, how he only saw growth, without realizing it was in the wrong direction. But now you think it's the right direction. Using the Blaze's principles, you're focusing on the good side of your pain. You're using your pain to ascend. You're using it train yourself to be a powerful leader. And you're using it to help your men become what they want to be." And Luke stands sternly emotionless, showing he could care less about Cicatrice, showing his plan to make him empathize with him has failed.

Cicatrice smiles, excited. He opens his mouth to speak, but Terigo cuts him off to tease playfully, over a layer of disgust, "And... you think you love your men, but you don't. You never knew love. And you never knew I was also in your mind when he was reading you. I sent my essence into you from _his_ side, not mine. Can't tell the difference between people can you. We're still things to you. The only reason you think you care about Luke is because you think you're better than he is. And, you want to become more ' _special'_ than he is. He's just your training tool." And they start closing in to attack again.

" _Well_ ," Cicatrice begins backing away, irritated but not largely fazed. "Let's weigh the facts. Let's weigh where I stand. Luke: the many pains of losing your hand has made you strong, correct?"

Luke doesn't answer, not playing his game.

But Cicatrice's question was apparently rhetorical...

...because he opens his crossed arms to spread them wide...

...and the cloak covering them slides to the floor, revealing...

...he has no hands.

Luke and Terigo's hearts stop with their feet.

Cicatrice gloats, "I don't wish to _become_ better than he is, _children_. I _am_ better. _I_ wish for _him_ to become better so I actually have something worth _living for_ ," bitterly sarcastic on 'living for.'

"So you wish to die?" Luke asks rhetorically, focusing on this idea to counter developing empathy for him, trying to be happy to grant him his wish with execution.

"So are you not _happy_?" Terigo teases, nearly chuckling. She knew the answer was no, despite him about to lie and say yes.

Cicatrice's head actually jerks to look at her to growl: " _Of course I am!_ "

And to Terigo's surprise, his essence and expression troubles her. She can't tell what he truly feels. It's so mixed, as if he hasn't just been redirecting hatred and lashing out like Dark users do. It was as if he _does_ find some sort of fulfillment in his pain and the pain he pushes his men to 'ascend' to. But his hands hadn't grown back nor had his scars disappeared, so he couldn't have ever felt the Light for too long.

Terigo begins backing up, as if afraid, focusing on fear... so he would feel it, hoping Luke wouldn't feel it and get the wrong idea, because she was actually...

backing up...

towards the officer's station...

And the split second the officers & Cicatrice notice, Terigo's exuberant thrill returns. She spins around to leap towards the men commanding the station. She deflects their shots and slices through them and their computers as they fight without fear. No, they fight with the resilience of rigorous training from someone they'd willingly die for. Cicatrice had spun around a second after her as Luke lunged to swing at him, but Cicatrice's arm swings back and Luke is smacked by the Force, delaying him a step. Cicatrice leaps with the Force propelling him twice as far, then again to reach Terigo before she executed more than three of the fifteen. He fervently swings his arm with a roar, Force Pushing her down—and she uses that momentum to roll back to her feet and swing as he gets close. But he weakly pushes her to stand between her and his men, like a predator guarding its children. And his eyes are still closed.

"Dawken, Greq, everyone: go stay with my men outside." The men reply, seeming a little concerned for their master's life. Cicatrice continues to guard them to let them leave safely while Luke and Terigo follow closely. They try to think of how to approach him, thinking it was odd he said his troop's names without their rank, as if they were friends.

Terigo informs Luke, "He wants us in that room, it's a trap," motioning behind her. "It's filled with those Perk—"

"LET _ME_ say it! It's _my_ plan," Cicatrice barks. "Sacrifus was methodic and self-trained in the Dark arts, truly admirable. He was a challenging opponent and I rather miss him. But he still lacked a broad point of view, he was only ever of the Sith. So he was unable to see the true brilliance of Perk." He makes a broad open-armed gesture, amazed with the brilliance of his own idea, "It's a defense _and_ a weapon." Now he seems excited to explain, "Putting it on the Kyber Power Modules I stole makes the perfect Jedi _converter_. How else would a Force-sensitive get the idea to use lightning. But the amount of Darkness it takes to achieve enough lightning to destroy one makes the Force-sensitive individual susceptible to permanent Darkness. It would also make them impulsive and mindless in their hatred, making them a challenging opponent," then a little lighthearted and snide: " _or_ easy to kill, whichever I'm in the mood for." With an almost inviting laugh, "I'm _joking_ , I would never want to waste one of _you_."

Unamused, Luke says, "Noted," and _lunges_ to start swinging as Terigo does the same.

As they fight, Cicatrice dodges and leaps and continues to with a liveliness—an elasticity. His feet never touch the ground for too long, using his full body on every move. It was the same way Terigo fights, but his play is far more fierce, mixed with the adrenaline of Darkness. He evades for a while without the Force, using it only to evade when absolutely necessary.

Then he begins to use _only_ the Force to evade, jumping from side to side, back to front, obstacle to obstacle.

And when he's had his fill of that...

Zwoom—Luke's lightsaber is pushed just past his ear by Cicatrice's push. Cicatrice begins dashing around and running without the Force so he can focus it on pushing their swings away. He aims for every swing, but misses some, accidentally shoving a shoulder or their hair or pushing weaker than he tried for. He needed a few seconds to focus enough to execute large pushes, but only needed a little focus for weak ones. With the number of misses almost matching his hits, it shows his youth almost matches how brutal his training has been.

At one point, Terigo's pushed lightsaber hits her shoulder. She continues fighting as if it didn't, but Luke notices and backs off a little to encourage her to do the same and heal. As Cicatrice continues to attack, Luke tries to guard her as she places her hand on her arm and swings only when needed.

Luke says, "He's not pushing us with the Force, he's using the Force to push the air against us! If you can do the same when he does—"

Woosh—she gives it all she's got, pushing against Cicatrice's push with the essence from her entire body. But his pushes through her weak attack, sending her back. Luke tries—but it's also nothing but wind. Terigo tries again—nothing. Cicatrice kicks her as if to teach of consequences, but she glances his elbow with her saber tip, not that he notices. He runs around Luke as if warming up to push and then whams him with one, but Luke returns it and Cicatrice's step actually falters.

Cicatrice notices and ignores Terigo's advance to run away from her and run around Luke. He sends a push and again he pushes back. But to Cicatrice's disappointment, though it was a lot of air, it was only a flat wall of it, so it did little to nothing again. So he jumps up to an obstacle and takes a little longer to gather the Force, as if hoping Luke will notice how it's done. He cups the air into a compact bullet, then hits Luke with it, knocking him down, again as if to teach consequences.

Both remain oblivious to his method. So to punish, when Terigo's blade was cutting down his thick perch, he jumps on her, knocking her down. Then he intentionally takes a shallow slice from Luke to spin past to kick his back and run off.

"Luke wait!" Terigo warns, getting up but staying there. Luke stops following Cicatrice and looks to her. She looks to Cicatrice and calls, "Done already huh? We're not going near that trapped room."

Luke notices the doorway Cicatrice ran to stop at. So he walks over to Terigo as Cicatrice looks frustrated and says, "Well I need to scare off your friend soon, before he destroys my incredible men, and my favorite cruiser."

But Luke and Terigo show no interest. Both take this moment to catch their breath and calm their essences. Luke says to Cicatrice, "What a shame. We were just getting warmed up," trying to provoke him to leave his spot.

Terigo puts her hand on Luke's arm and he realizes she's healing a cut he didn't realize he had. They stand and enjoy the moment, breathing, calming even further, becoming Lighter—

Cicatrice warns, "You may think my power is getting weaker from resting, but in fact, the longer you make me wait, the madder I'll get, so the Darker I'll become..."

Luke hovers his lightsaber hilt, then ignites it. He moves it around a bit to warm up as Cicatrice's focus seems to become rapt on it, like preparing to dodge a bullet. He's thrilled he gets to try something new, yet is more concerned than anything due to the time constraint and risk.

Before Terigo takes her hand off Luke's cut, he telepaths to her, _Having spent years flying vehicles, I've learned about a little something called aerodynamics._

Luke sends his saber like a bullet—straight—and Cicatrice's Force Push—a massive one—only slows it down. He dodges but takes a hit across his arm— "GUARDS!" —and continues to run from it as guards rush in. He starts making rapid weak pushes from the side of the blade where the wind could affect it. He didn't have enough time to focus a large push— "RANDOM FIRE! HERD THEM IN THE ROOM! NOW!"

Luke pulls his lightsaber back to his hand to deflect with Terigo. They try to run, but most the stormtroopers began shooting on either side of them and slowly bring their fire in towards them to herd them, while the others shoot at them to keep their sabers busy. Cicatrice was already storming over with a tremendous internal heat and _slams_ Luke with a Force Push. Then he holds to focus the Force, and backhand-Force-Pushes Terigo.

In between deflecting, they try to advance on Cicatrice but he darts around them, with and without the Force. Cicatrice dodges shots, dodges their blades, kicks them, distracts them with weak pushes, builds up for larger ones, all to herd them towards the room.

They try to deflect the shots back onto the men or onto Cicatrice but Cicatrice manages to use only the Force—not air—to smash two shots into harmless sparkles. But after three of his men fall, he uses a weak Force Smash to lessen the blow of a shot so he could take a hit for one of his men. He redirects the Darkness of pain to Force Push Luke, knocking him over completely. With Luke down, Terigo takes on extra shots—unable to swing at Cicatrice. She waits for Luke to recover, but Cicatrice takes two hits to redirect even more Darkness into Force Jumping to her and pushing her with a violent fling of both arms. It sends her off her feet, with a tiny arc of lightning hitting her.

He continues to push them back, and in desperation, Luke begins Force Pushing in retaliation and Terigo takes a glancing hit to hit him, but none of it was enough. They were now in the room.

"ON MY MARK!"

"READY!" says a stormtrooper by the door's controls.

"NOW!" as Cicatrice Force Jumps back. The door nearly closes on his nose, and nearly closes on Luke's lightsaber as he had Force Jumped after him, but Luke shoves it into the door instead where Cicatrice's chest would be on the other side—

—only to have it flicker off before it made it all the way through.

The lights in the room dim just as they did in the base's command center and he hears an electronic humming behind him, just like with that red machine.

He turns around to see Terigo staring stiff at not one...

...but six...

Cicatrice's voice booms from an intercom, still irate with searing Darkness, " _I'll see you AGAIN when one of you have KILLED the other_!"

They look to each other in horror.

"Maybe!" Cicatrice's voice says again. His hatred got subdued slightly from not wanting to waste them.

And then they feel him running away at full speed.


	23. CHAPTER 23 -- Jedi

Chapter 23

 **J** **EDI**

* * *

SIX RED MACHINES hum in a dim room.

While mulling over what to do, Terigo mentions, "(His last line... It's the traditional passage initializing the final stage in ascendance... when one begins to train for resurrection... Terra said similar...)"

 _And Yoda,_ Luke thinks, _about killing emotions._ Three paths they want, wanting him to be something he's not.

"He said Kyber Power," Luke says. "So I guess they're trying to absorb the power from our lightsaber's Kyber crystals."

"Can you destroy them with the Force?" Terigo says.

"I can try," Luke says, already hurrying to sit down in front of one and meditate. "These are thick, like the crane, and it took time. I may not have time for all of them, so—"

"Yeah I'll try..." She knew she wouldn't be able to do damage, but it was at least practice.

Terigo sits to touch one with her palms, and they both focus on breathing evenly as the humming reclaims the room.

 **|•|** **‹•› |•|**

Meanwhile, Cicatrice was still running, faster than any of his men. "STAND DOWN. Tell all men to avoid the enemy at all costs!"

Elsewhere, Terra gets on a cart and asks the driver to go. He has him stop at various stormtroopers on the way to quickly touch their heads, leaving the sounds of blaster fire in his wake.

 **|•|** **‹•› |•|**

The sound of creaking metal echoes in the room. In front of Luke, the shell of the red machine was slowly to bending... and pulling apart... bolt... by... bolt... until it suddenly stops humming.

Luke opens his eyes to take a triumphant breath. He remains a little out of it as he gets up to sit by another machine—

The entire ship begins tilting and Luke and Terigo hold on to the machines. The ship tilts thirty-five degrees, then slows and falls back with a thundering crash, leaving the ship tilted five degrees in the other direction.

As Luke goes to sit at another machine, he says, "I can only guess how much time we have left. When I blew up the Death Star, it went all at once, without warning. Do you think it's possible t—"

"No, he likely has too much faith in us. Given his concerns over Cicatrice, I doubt he'll risk his life by delaying to see if we make it out. I'm sure he thinks he's the most important thing to the galaxy," and she returns her hands to her machine to continue trying.

Luke notices and puts his hands on his machine, trying to clear his mind of the anxiety nagging at him to work faster faster faster.

But Terigo just stares at her machine, knowing she can do no good with this. Her composure begins wavering as a flurry of all sorts of emotions swirl around inside of her, fighting with each other. "Luke..."

"What."

"Do you think you're able to use lightning again and return from the Darkness—"

" _What?_ "

"—like you did last time. Because I don't think I'll be able to return from all of them."

Luke becomes nearly irate, "Terigo _no_! Keep trying to bend it, it's the only way. We can't risk—"

The entire ship creaks and rumbles.

Terigo says sternly, "I can at least do _one_ , you saw me do it. One will save us twenty minutes." She stands up to place her hands on her machine, then looks to Luke with eyes that roar ' _trust me, I can do this._ ' "I have a good feeling about this. Keep working on yours."

Luke's gaze lingers for a while longer, but he takes a long breath to open up his clenching chest and reluctantly returns his focus to his machine. And she turns to hers.

Luke's curiosity and concern nags at him to open his eyes and supervise, but he manages to clear his mind. After quite some time, the growing heat he feels from Terigo nags at him again to watch. So he begins chanting at the machine in his mind—

—only to have all progress shattered when she roars as if she tore off her _own_ hand. And her machine's humming ceases.

Helpless to aid her pain, his dire concern for her jabs him relentlessly, knowing what her state feels like, yet not even knowing why. He can barely focus, until he feels her essence start to calm, becoming the Mid...

But she wavers back and forth. She doesn't truly stay calm, and she wasn't return to the Light.

He couldn't take it. "Terigo."

She doesn't answer. And her essence doesn't improve. She continues to press her weight into the charred machine with both hands, head down, eyes closed.

"Terigo—"

"Shut it Luke. I have to do this."

"Not all at once, return to the Light before—"

"No! I'm sick of this!—This Darkness inside me. I have to get it out. I have to face it, I _want_ to face it. It'll destroy me if I don't."

"It will destroy you if you do it all at once. _Be patient_." Now he could see why Yoda and Leia told him the same.

Terigo grumbles: "I've already started it, can't you feel it, building up, burning..."

Luke rushes to his feet to do something, _But what?_

"...or are you really that _weak_ with the Force?" Terigo stays as she was, but every muscle in her clenches as she speaks, "I'm sick of being patient. It's only made it worse. I'm endangering everyone by hiding it from myself, because something this deep can't be truly hidden...

"I have hatred far deeper than the Sith. Their hatred is for the world, for people, for everything around them. These are escapable and defeatable, ignorable. My hatred is not, for there is nothing more _painful_ and IN-E-SCAP-ABLE—" with a monstrous rage " _—than thy_ SELF!" slamming her fists on the next machine. Smoke flies out of it with four arcs of lightning.

"I KILLED MY BROTHER—" BAM—four more fry another machine, "and I have to LIE to myself to stay in the Light! He's dead because I was too weak and STUPID to see I wasn't ready! My father saw the same thing—He _never_ wanted to train me—The _youngest_ —He only used the desire to see OTHERS to resurrect me, and I was too _young_ and STUPID to see it until I felt the resurrection!" slamming one lightning arc into another machine, but it wasn't enough to stop the humming.

Luke stands in shock, stricken stiff.

"And then there's you," in a low grumble, turning to Luke with a Sith Lord's glare, "whatever the _hell_ you are. Calling yourself a Jedi, without Yoda's verdict—He's 900 years old. _Terra_ is second oldest, two- _hundred_ years behind—You were trained by the oldest and arguably wisest master to ever exist and still got your hand cut off and fail and almost die twice!—He trained _thousands_ of Jedi—ones with a _fraction_ of your power, but you're the _worst one_!" slamming lightning into her machine again, finishing it off.

"I hate you! I hate everything about you!" storming over towards him, but she redirects her hatred into electrocuting Luke's machine. It's the last one, so she begins catching her breath, bending over it.

Luke had moved back, _Is that true or just the Darkness talking? It doesn't matter. The rest was true. I can only be mad at myself—No, I must not have any anger. Only acceptance, and desire to overcome it. I can't know if I can overcome it, but I know that I will do_ everything _I can._

But Terigo's burning essence didn't calm. She turns to him again, advancing slowly, lured by nothing left to attack but him, "You beg for a challenge but then whine that it's too hard."

Luke moves back slowly, expecting harm.

"You think I hurt you because I'm being pretentious and _cruel to you_ —instead of reading that I'm trying to help you because I don't want to be _alone_ " —tears form before turning it into anger— "because you don't have any _skill_ to read _otherwise_!" _shoving_ him with all her might.

He stops his stumble and stands firm with _solid_ eye contact.

"You _killed_ your _father_ because of your _overconfidence—_ your _stupidity—_ your _weakness_!" She shoves him again, and lightning comes with it.

Luke couldn't help a groan in pain, but he doesn't allow himself to collapse. He pulls himself up to stand straight and firm. His hard eyes pierce hers while a whirlwind swirls inside him—pain, guilt, determination, sympathy, and everything they've been through together—but he calms it all by accepting her words, accepting this punishment, and accepting her.

"You have so much Darkness—and so deep—but you're too _young_ and _STUPID_ _to see it!_ That's _why_ I'm so hard on you, why I couldn't stand to look at you! Because when I do, _all I can see,_ IS MYSELF! _Why are you_ SMILING!?" directing lightning away from him to hear the answer.

With all her hatred pushing him away, of course she couldn't sense why. He had realized he could always trust her words, that he knows she understands his pain completely, that he understands hers, and that his essence had been growing warmer and warmer, into his deepest depths...

So when he kisses her...

...her searing essence first fights his trying to get in, but her loneliness cools it to allow herself to be obliterated by the warmth. And though the Dark rocks inside them both were too dense to shatter, they become forever drowned by Light...

For a long moment, there was nothing around them, and nothing inside them, no world, no pain, no thoughts, just a euphoria of the Force combined. They feel as if they're swimming in the Light that was melting them, that was opening their lungs, opening every cell in their bodies, imbuing them with power.

So when his arms unwrap from her to hold her face, he does so...

...with two hands.

Now, as light as air, they gently drift apart. Their foreheads stay touching as they both relish in his new hand on her cheek.

Then he reads her joke before she says it:

"You cheated me."

They both chuckle, and Luke allows her to read his reply:

 _Then now we're even._

They chuckle again and embrace to kiss a while longer, with no concern when the ship starts rumbling.

Luke thinks to her, _Actually, I think the ship's warming up to take off._

 _Then let's rip our way out,_ she thinks back, with a fiery smirk.

So they cut through the door and Luke Force Pushes the cut piece as if it isn't there.

There are hardly any stormtroopers in sight, and the ones they do run by avoid them. Terigo still feels Luke's essence deeply attached to hers, effortlessly, even as his essence surveys their path. So she thinks to him, _They've been ordered to avoid us to save their lives._

Luke says, _Good, let's hurry._

They return to the room they hid the prisoners in, but they're gone, without a trace.

Terigo, with her seemingly unbreakable will, feels little to no guilt. She knows they tried their best and that things will be as they be. Instead, she becomes concerned for Luke, but is a little surprised by what she feels in him. Luke himself is surprised at how his guilt didn't cut him down just now, how he isn't panicking or raging as he thought he normally would have done. It was this new Light essence fueling him, his own and Terigo's. He's aware that he feels guilty, or at least disheartened for not being able to save people, but it doesn't grip him. It doesn't make him vulnerable and reckless.

So when Terigo says, _There's nothing we can do, we should go_... he agrees... and just lets it go with a sigh. _We can sense for them as we leave._

Running down halls, trying to find their way out, they nearly gawk at the chaos happening throughout the ship. Stormtroopers were shooting at each other, others were holding others down, some were at gunpoint, and officers were yelling at them all.

One officer stops at the beginning of a narrow hall when he sees the two holding lightsabers coming his way. But with Cicatrice's training, his well-earned courage pushes him forward to try to walk by them with only a stern glance.

With their bonded essences, Luke feels no concern when Terigo holds her blade to the officer's neck, trusting her completely. She asks, "How do we get out of here?"

The officer doesn't even look at the blade, just straight at her, unamused, if not disappointed in her.

She lowers her blade and Luke follows as she takes the path she read.

From outside the ship, they see it is indeed tilted and still rumbling, but it otherwise appears fine. And though everything is poorly lit in the darkness, it appears the men outside are finishing loading up the ship and boarding. _Not_ evacuating. The two still feel Cicatrice inside, but not Terra. They feel Terra towards the speeders they arrived on.

In making the hike there, they feel his presence suddenly start moving away with great speed, no doubt on a speeder. And as they get closer to the other two speeders, they feel a new presence and prepare their lightsabers.

Huddling around their speeders are more than twenty prisoners, including all the ones Luke hid.

The strongest man, bewildered but hopeful, says, "Your friend saved us and was going to take us to the city, but he said he felt you coming and said you will take us instead."

Luke thinks, _He's no friend. Or is he._

Terigo doesn't disagree with his thoughts, she just smiles to the man and says, "Yeah, even better. We have a whole base to play in."

A roaring blast comes from the ship down the way, but it isn't an explosion. It's the thrusters. And they all watch as the ship flies away...

Standing in darkness, they look towards the glow of the city. A sense of relief and awe wash over the prisoners as they watch Luke and Terigo move without words, in perfect unison. They reignite their sabers to light the way as Luke heads towards the front and Terigo the back, instructing the prisoners to hover the speeders along with them.

Through the long walk, the night stays quiet as fatigue drags everyone's feet and soothes their minds, turning them all into sleepwalkers. With a long day done, new peace was ahead.

After some time to relax, the mental haze in Luke's and Terigo's minds fade and thoughts began to return. Their essence had stayed strongly connected, so Terigo—half serious—thinks to him, _I suppose this means—according to the Apricity—that we're both Jedi now._ And she knew he would feel the flavor of 'saving each other.'

She feels him smirk as he thinks to her, _Does it matter?_

He feels her smirk back, and she almost chuckles and sighs on the inside, _No... We'll always find something to learn_.

It was then that they realize there was something amiss, something out of place:

They were apart.

So they begin to gradually, discreetly, politely move through the crowd...

...inching closer and closer...

...until their hands unite.

Raising their lightsabers ahead, the prisoners began to get behind them, allowing them to lead.

And there they begin. For achieving the Balanced Side of the Force, they are perfect...

Flawed and human.


	24. CHAPTER 24 -- Heard

Chapter 24

 **H** **EARD**

* * *

THE FALCON LAY QUIET in the shipyard of the base. It was dull in the morning light, and becomes dirtier from the gust of another ship landing next to it.

Inside this ship, Leia sits quietly. Calmly. Solemn. No longer was she stricken by sadness and dread, for there is a great connection between her and her twin brother. It is a tremendous flow of the Force's essence across the galaxy. And his essence now is solid warmth.

She had felt him change from ice & fire a day earlier, so she had time to process it. But only now when she exits the ship, coming closer and closer to his location, can she began to feel why.

Han confirms this feeling when he meets her outside and explains what's happened. He himself was bewildered and amazed—granted, only about as much as he could be.

Though Leia remains concerned about the woman, her relief and the warmth she feels prevents dire concern from taking control, especially when she hears about Luke's hand. So as she walks down the halls of the base, her ice and warmth neutralize each other. It keeps her in the Mid yet allows her to have thoughts. She passes by several of the prisoners wandering around for various reasons, but her thoughts stay on her brother, even as she approaches the chatter of many more people.

Entering the cafeteria, she stops when one prisoner almost runs into her to catch a flying shoe. She looks through this one and his friend playing catch, and looks beyond the several others eating and socializing. Then she spots her brother and the woman at the other end.

They sit casually close to each other in a nook that was quiet enough to be alone yet it was where they could still watch everyone, if they weren't facing each other. Leia watches for a moment to get a better impression of them both. In his voiceless gestures, she sees a looseness she hadn't seen a long time, not since destroying the Death Star. Even when he was mentoring her—when they were happiest together—his laughs were always cut short by something deeper than she could reach. But they aren't now. And his gestures aren't just loose, they're expressive... He's talking, without words. _They_ are.

She watches him welcome the women's hand as she touches his left cheek and nose, possibly talking about his Wampa injury on Hoth. It's this moment that she realizes he doesn't sense her, only the woman. Even in the chatter and the commotion of the room, days ago she would have felt him acknowledge her before she even entered the building. But now...

Now her fear and hatred starts breaking through her Mid. She's afraid of what this woman would do to him, afraid of losing him to this woman she hates. But seeing him laugh again, and feeling its surge of warmth... It eases her Dark emotions, and eases her back into the Mid, allowing her to think without emotional bias.

 _He's happy, that's the important part... If that means being ignored... I'm willing to make that sacrifice, especially if it means the galaxy is safer with him saved from the Dark Side._ Her arms cross and her hands rub them. Her instincts were tugging on her, fighting for her own happiness, and causes her to reconsider, _Or... at least share his company._

She stands for a moment longer and Han moseys up beside her to put a hand on her furthest shoulder. She glances at him for a moment and sighs to say, "What do you think? I want to trust Luke's judgment, but I know how he is too."

Han sighs, "Well... the last girl he kissed didn't turn out too bad," tussling her head, smirking extra hard hoping it would partially defuse how riled up she would get.

Appalled and embarrassed, she plops both hands to her hips as an angry chuckle escapes her. She hits his arm only half-playfully. It's the perfect amount for Han, that favorite state he loves to put her in, the state of never taking this terrible world too seriously. So he chuckles and puts his arm around her to show his love.

As they turn to leave, the tossed shoe comes flying again towards Leia's head, but she stops it with the Force. She holds it in midair for a moment before Han grabs it. The two guys—mouths gaping—loudly try to ask her questions and tell their friends, but Han bickers at them and leads Leia with him towards the door.

Luke and Terigo's trance breaks with the new commotion and they both sense Leia. Luke bolts out of his chair and races across the room. With her back now in sight, he stops.

In Leia's mind, she doesn't hear the 'Can you—', only:

 _—hear me._

Memories of Cloud City seize her, causing her to halt. She whips around. Twenty feet away is her brother, standing strong towards her, his eyes and essence piercing into her soul. Though his smile stays firm, he somehow seems brighter than a moment before. She feels his essence beaming even more, filling the room, sensing that even Han feels it—though he doesn't realize. Then she wonders if this was the reason so many people gathered to this room.

Without realizing what this new skill could do for the galaxy, the last of her worries dissolve completely...

...knowing now that her brother would be alright...

 _For now at least..._

 _For today..._


	25. CHAPTER 25 -- Epilogue

Chapter 25

 **E** **PILOGUE**

* * *

SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE, when Ore Lake still mimics the sky, two figures can be seen leaping up the cliffside. Every day.

Both wear garments of three colors: gray to remind them of a neutral mind; black to remind them Darkness is always near; yellow on the woman to remind her of the sun; and a desert color on the man to remind him of humble beginnings.

Their feet find rock without question and push them higher than any man.

On one jump, a blink of light from the woman's blade slices the cliff wall. It sends rocks falling towards the man following her, to which he sends them flying back at her with the Force, and she knocks them away with the same power.

She leaps an impossible distance over a ravine and he floats towards her as if relaxing in water. The second his feet touch rock, he jumps back across, and she floats towards him... tussling his hair as she intentionally lands early to run ahead.

He chases her up the cliffside but she makes it to the top first. She walks casually towards the cliff's edge but he tussles her hair as he runs by, looking as if he'll jump off. Instead, he slows and looks down.

Far far below lies calm lake water.

This daily drop was nothing to him by now. It felt no different than a step down stairs. So he looks to his left, to craggy rocks below another cliffside. An unsurvivable fall.

With confidence flowing through them both, he turns to her to let their voiceless decision settle. They let the thought of consequences find its way to every part of their one mind. And when it triggers no fear, no doubt, not even a little... they race to that other cliff...

They both look over the edge to give their mind one last test, and again there is only warmth. So she takes a step back, and he steps to the edge.

With their eyes on each other and his back toward death, their smiles soften before strengthening...

...And like falling into a cloud...

...he lets himself go...

...At the last moment, they see the other's face—and feel the other's essence—start to _burn_.

Over the treetops, on a distant cliff, children have gathered as they do every day. They watch as their protectors turn into stars of lightning, one on the cliff and one falling from it.

While the oldest cheer, the youngest hold their breath until...

the lightning stops, until they see...

that the tan one...

stops falling...

* * *

 **M** **ORE** **TO** **C** **OME**

Look for my website ranicholl dot com, Twitter, and Facebook.

.

Coming 2017:

STRAYING TOWARDS AZURE EYES

The Azure Series: Book 1 of 5.

Ten years in the making.

.

 _Orphans of gods can only pervert their magic..._

 _._

 _Plagued by a Decay, Crane is pressured by the nation's desperate war strategists to take on more than he can handle with three coveted young figures in the world's lust for children of gods._

 _Kyten, a manic die-hard oddity._

 _Wren, an untrained descendant of their god._

 _And Prilla, a disturbed secretive extremist._

 _The four fight amongst themselves to survive being thrown into a beautiful yet twisted world of flawed magic and blind demigods. Bonding through their secrets, as the tolls of war break their spirits, they break themselves to save each other from death, from themselves, and worse..._


End file.
